Daniel Epstein
Piano
Pianist DANIEL EPSTEIN received international acclaim in 1973 with his performances of the Yellow River Concerto – the first piece of Chinese classical music to be performed in the United States – in a series of concerts and RCA debut recording with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Since then, he has become recognized as one of the most vital and versatile solo and chamber pianists of his generation, as well as an articulate communicator and educator.
Winner of the prestigious Kosciuszko Chopin Award, the National Arts Club Prize, the Prix Alex de Vries at the Marguerite Long Competition, in Paris, and the Concert Artists Guild Award — which afforded him his Carnegie Hall debut recital — Epstein was also selected for an NEA Recitalist Grant to perform recitals throughout the US. He has appeared as guest soloist with such eminent American orchestras as Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Detroit, and Rochester. He has given recitals at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y as well as in major cities throughout the US, complemented by master classes and intensive seminars for pianists at colleges and universities. He has also toured in China, Japan and Europe.
As pianist and founding member of the famed Raphael Trio, since 1975, he has performed virtually the entire piano trio repertoire. The Trio has appeared regularly in New York’s Carnegie and Town Halls, The Kennedy Center in Washington, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna, Paris, Geneva, Budapest, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, as well as numerous other musical centers throughout the U.S. and Europe. The Trio’s recordings of Beethoven, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, and Wolf-Ferarri have received wide critical and public praise. He has collaborated with many renowned string quartets, including the Ying, American, and Talich, and has played with members of the Juilliard and Guarneri quartets as well as many other distinguished chamber musicians and soloists.
In the fall of 2004, Mr. Epstein was invited to Shanghai, China, serving as visiting faculty at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He has visited China since then at least annually, performing and teaching in the conservatories of Shanghai, Beijing (Central) Xi’an and performing recitals and concerti. In the summer of 2017 he performed the Yellow River Concerto for the first time in China at the Xiamen International Piano Festival.
Additional recent performances have included the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Broadway Bach Ensemble in May, 2017, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in September of 2017 with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in March of 2018 with the Bartlesville OK Symphony.
Mr. Epstein has been a member of the piano faculty of the Mason Gross School of Music at Rutgers University since 2007 and Manhattan School of Music since 2001. In February of 2018 he was appointed Head of Keyboard at Rutgers.
Daniel Epstein’s unique and comprehensive teaching style has made him one of the most sought-after teachers in the United States. Among his current and former students are major competition prizewinners, performers with major conductors and symphony orchestras throughout the world, and recording artists on major record labels.
Recordings: RCA, Sony, Albany, Sonar, Nonesuch, Newport Classic, ASV, Unicorn-Kanchana and EMS.
