Xak Bjerken, piano

Experience inspiring performances by top emerging artists in our historic venue, renowned for its superb acoustics. Our recitals are programmed in collaboration with leading music colleges and charities, providing a platform for the stars of tomorrow. Discover exceptional talent in a unique settting.

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Programme

In Memory (2016)​Christopher Stark
​​(b. 1980)

From Preludes, Book II (1913)​Claude Debussy
​Feuilles mortes​(1862-1918)
​La Puerta del Vino
​La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune
​General Lavine, eccentric

Chorale from Jatékok, book V/11 (1981)​György Kurtág
​​(b. 1926)

Elegy (2016)​Joseph Phibbs
​​(b. 1974)

Chorale from Album Leaves (2002)​Steven Stucky
​​(1949-2016)

Preludes (2024)​Elizabeth Ogonek
​freely, gently​(b. 1989)
​peppy, cheerful
​majestic
​sweetly, with affection
​quasi-improvisatory

from Sonata for Piano (2014)​Steven Stucky
​Chorale and Coda​

Artist Bio

Xak Bjerken was for many years a member of the Los Angeles Piano Quartet, and has held chamber music residencies at Tanglewood, the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and the Spoleto Festival, and has taught and performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, Icicle Creek, and the Kfar Blum festival in Israel. Bjerken performs regularly with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestras, and for over twenty years he has directed Ensemble X, the new music group founded by Steven Stucky. Xak has worked closely with composers Győrgy Kurtag, Sofia Gubaidulina, and George Benjamin, and recently recorded two albums of original compositions with the Bluegrass ensemble EZRA. He is professor of music at Cornell University where he co-directs the international chamber music festival Mayfest with his wife, pianist Miri Yampolsky. He studied with Aube Tzerko at the UCLA and received his master’s and doctoral degrees from the Peabody Conservatory as a student of and teaching assistant to Leon Fleisher.

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