Micah McLaurin is an American pianist.

Biography

Born in Charleston, SC, Micah began playing piano at the age of eight, when his grandmother gave his family her old piano. He started lessons with Marsha Gerber, and later continued studying in Charleston with Enrique Graf. At 18, he was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music, where he received his bachelor's degree in 2018, studying with Robert McDonald and

Gary Graffman Gary Graffman (born October 14, 1928) is an American classical pianist, teacher and administrator. Early life Graffman was born in New York City to Russian-Jewish parents. Having started piano at age 3, Graffman entered the Curtis Institute of M ...

. He then completed his master's degree at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

with

Jerome Lowenthal Jerome Lowenthal (born February 11, 1932) is an American classical pianist. He has served as chair of the piano department at the Juilliard School in New York. Additionally, Lowenthal is on the faculty at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbar ...

and Yoheved Kaplinksy. He was a winner of the 2016 Gilmore Young Artist Award, an award given every two years to the two most promising pianists in the country, age 22 and younger. As part of the prize, he commissioned

Stephen Hough Sir Stephen Andrew Gill Hough (; born 22 November 1961) is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He became an Australian citizen in 2005 and thus has dual nationality (his father was born in Australia in 1926). Biography Houg ...

to write his “Piano Sonata No.4”, which at Micah's request, quotes Charles Trenet's “En Avril a Paris”. He has also won top prizes in the Ettlingen International Competition, the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, the 2011

Hilton Head International Piano Competition The Hilton Head International Piano Competition is a piano competition held annually since 1996 at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina's First Presbyterian Church. Selected list of jurors * Joseph Banowetz * José Feghali * Peter Frankl * ...

, and the Verbier Festival Tabor Prize. In 2018, Micah made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut, performing Bernstein's Age of Anxiety as part of the Bernstein Centennial Celebration concert. He performed again with the Philadelphia Orchestra that year, playing Gershwin's Concerto in F at the Mann Center. He has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Charleston Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and with orchestras in Montevideo, El Salvador, and Italy. He was engaged to debut with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in 2020, but the concert was canceled due to COVID-19. Micah made his Lincoln Center recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in 2019, presented by the Musicians Emergency Fund. He also gave a guest performance at the 2019 Youth America Grand Prix Gala at David Koch Theater. As a recitalist, he has performed in The Miami International Piano Festival, the Verbier Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, La Societa dei Concerti di Milano, The Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Jeudis du Piano in Geneve, Les Pianissimes in Paris, The Raleigh Paderewski Festival, the Chopin Foundation of Miami, Music Fest Perugia, and others. Among his collaborators are conductors and musicians Joann Falletta, Joshua Weilerstein, Jahja Ling, Nicholas McGegan, Ken Lam, Orli Shaham, and Anthony Roth Costanzo. Micah has released two recordings - an album of live performances titled “Micah McLaurin Live” in 2020, and in 2021 released his studio album “Chopin”. He has appeared in media publications such as WWD, Paper Magazine, Resident Magazine, Pluton Magazine, and others.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaurin, Micah 1994 births American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists Living people People from Charleston, South Carolina 20th-century American pianists 21st-century classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists