NEW YORK, NY, October 07, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Joshua Pierce has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Having long demonstrated a masterful talent as a piano soloist, Mr. Pierce has distinguished himself as a recording artist for more than five decades. Throughout the course of his career, he has garnered acclaim for his expansive repertoire of interpretations of such luminary artists as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, George Gershwin and John Cage, the latter serving as an early inspiration and longstanding associate. Well-regarded for his virtuosic technique and elegance as a musician, Mr. Pierce has likewise drawn praise from a host of national and international publications such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Contemporary Keyboard, Fanfare and Classical Net Magazine, which has said: "Joshua Pierce possesses an arsenal of pianistic talents that can astonish the ear and instruct the mind." The New Yorker has commented: "…performances that provided outstanding pleasures and magical variety", while the British publication: Gramophone has said of his performances: "Polished and often fearless."
A native of New York, Mr. Pierce initially played for the National Broadcasting Company on behalf of the head of the music department, Samuel Chotzinoff, who subsequently assisted in his enrollment in the pre-college division of the Juilliard School where he was the recipient of the Heckscher Foundation Award for five years straight. At 14, he went on to win a full scholarship to Dartmouth College, where he attended classes at the Congregation of the Arts Summer Music Festival. Following this period, he studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University. While in Cleveland, he distinguished himself as the winner of the Victor Babin Award where he also served as pianist for the vocal arts classes of New York Metropolitan Opera star: Eleanor Steber. He continued his studies under a variety of prominent teachers, including Artur Balsam, Arthur Loesser, the aforementioned Victor Babin, Robert Goldsand and Dorothy Taubman.
Since his emergence in the field, Mr. Pierce has recorded for a great number of labels, including Orion Records, Tomato Records, Musical Heritage, Serenus, Vox, Albany, Carlton Classics, EMI, BBC Recordings, Wergo, IMP Classics, Naxos, Japanese Victor Corporation, Sony Classical and MSR Classics. For the latter company, alone, he has released a great number of records out of his corpus of over 275 works, including "Bravura" in 2019, "Russian Piano Concertos" in 2016, "Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos" in 2006, "Vincent Persichetti: Legacy of Songs" in 2015, "Vincent Persichetti: Harmonium - Song Cycle for Soprano and Piano" in 2014, and "John Cage: A Tribute," in 2012 and the Schubert Recordings, Vols. 1, 2 and 3 in 2006/2007 to name only a scant few. He also appears as a prolific guest artist on National Public Radio and Public Radio International. He has also been featured on numerous other domestic and international radio programs including NPR's "All Things Considered", John Schaefer's "New Sounds" and David Dubal's "Reflections from the keyboard".
Likewise impressive in his live performances, Mr. Pierce's music has been listened to throughout the world in collaboration with many major symphony orchestras, such as the Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York, Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Sinfonia of London, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Utah Symphony, the Symphonies of Midland and Odessa, the San Antonio Symphony, the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional in Peru, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, RAI Orchestra Rome, the Slovak Philharmonic, Slovak Radio of Brattislava, the Czech National Symphony, The Orchestra of Czech Radio and Television, Cappella Istropolitana, the State Chamber Orchestra of Zilina, the Moravian Philharmonic, the Luxembourg Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Orchestra of Polish Radio and Television, the Russian State Symphony, The Symphony Orchestra of Russia and the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. He has also played in innumerable music halls, including Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Music Center, the Roulette Intermedium, Weill Hall, the Knitting Factory, the Dimenna Center for Classical Music, Symphony Space of New York, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series of Chicago, Music Mountain Chamber Music Series, the Philipps Collection in Washington DC, the Seattle Festival of Contemporary Music, the International Piano Festival at Williams, MA, the Amherst International Music Festival, the Bergen International Music Festival, Norway, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall/Moscow, Smetana Hall/Prague, the Czech Republic, the Redutta of Bratislava, Slovak Republic, the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Barbican Centre of London, the Teatro La Fenice of Venice, Italy, the ISCM Festivals in Zurich, Moscow, Kazan and Venice, Europe-Asia 2000, the Ulsann Cultural Center, the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and the Seoul Opera House of South Korea as well as a host of others.
Outside of his work as a soloist, Mr. Pierce worked as part of the renowned international duo-piano team with the remarkable pianist Dorothy Jonas (Pierce & Jonas) from 1978 onward. Following in the footsteps of Vronsky & Babin, Gold & Fizdale, Whittemore & Lowe, Luboshutz & Nmenoff, they were considered logical successors to those virtuosic piano duos of another era, having revived and brought before the public a performance and recorded legacy of a great many 20th-century works, including two piano concertos by Walter Piston, Benjamin Britten, Morton Gould, Quincy Porter, Roy Harris, Bohuslav Martinu, Nicolai Berezowsky, Nikolai Lopatnikoff, Robert Stater and Alexander Tansman. They also appeared with many symphony orchestras, such as the Royal Philharmonic, the London Philharmonia, the National Symphony of Polish Radio and Television, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Da Camera Di Roma, the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Utah Symphony, to name only a few. At the invitation of the composer, they gave the European Premiere performance of the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Robert Starer. During this time they also Premiered the Concerto for Two Pianos & Orchestra with conductor Vladimir Valek and the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra in a work which was specifically composed for them by William Thomas McKinley. Their 1984 performances of the Spellbound Concerto-Fantasie for Two Pianos and Orchestra and New England Concerto, which was written for them by Academy Award-winning composer Miklos Rosza - most notably - led to their invitation to deliver a command performance for the British Royal Family at London's Royal Festival Hall in 1987. In addition to his performances alongside Ms. Jonas, Mr. Pierce was a founding member of the notable KPZ Piano trio with the violinist Julianne Klopotic and cellist Lawrence Zoernig as well as in performances with Russia's famed Leontovich String Quartet and Chamber Players International, Inc. Since 2018, right up to the present day, Mr. Pierce has been actively involved in performances and recordings of all 32 Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Mozart as well as the complete Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonata output with the esteemed British Violinist Andrew Smith. Their 6-CD set of the complete Mozart Sonatas is available on MSR Classics 1800.
Though his journey has been shrouded with highlights, Mr. Pierce is exceedingly proud of his 25 plus year association and work with the late John Cage, an American composer, innovator and music theorist whose work proved to be an indelible influence on 20th century music, art and culture the world over. Over the course of his career, Mr. Pierce has performed John Cage's famous magnum opus: "Sonatas and Interludes For Prepared Piano", and other works, a multitude of times throughout the world, as well as solo performances of "Four Walls" and in partnering with the choreographer Sin Cha Hong - widely credited as South Korea's foremost performance artist. His John Cage recordings and interviews have also been featured prominently in two HD Documentaries; "John Cage/Man & Myth" and "The Revenge of the Dead Indians: In Memoriam John Cage." He was responsible for introducing Cage's work to Eastern Europe where it was long banned under the old regime. He is also gratified to have earned the distinction as being the first Western artist to give "live" performances and recordings in Post-Soviet Russia. His now famous album of performances of compositions by John Cage, Charles Ives, and Ivan Wyschnegradsky were all recorded for SoLyd Records and is considered to be a cult-status album. The recording is titled: "Joshua Pierce: Live at the Dom/Alternativa Festival, Moscow, Russia, 2000."
Among other accomplishments to his credit, Mr. Pierce was the only pianist, other than the composer, to perform internationally "Revelation," a massive work originally composed by Michael Harrison during the years 2003-2008. His initial performance, sponsored by the American Festival Microtonal Music, Inc. won him the 2004 Grand Prize at the IBLA International Competition for Contemporary Composers and Performance.
Additionally, Mr. Pierce has contributed to the field at large as president of the Board of Directors for the American Festival of Microtonal Music, Inc., for which he is their official pianist and artistic advisor. He has also served as a judge for the IBLA International Competition, the American Chamber Orchestra and the International Center for Contemporary Opera, maintained an active involvement for four years with the Advisory Board of the International Fulbright Commission, and functioned as a jury member for the Respighi Prize International Music Competition in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
In collaboration with several other artists, including Daniel Auerbach, Sherry Overholt and Lee Velta, Mr. Pierce received several research award grants from the Professional Staff Congress at the City University of New York throughout the 2010s. He also earned a major award from the Aaron Copland Fund For Music Inc. in 2016. Most prominently, he has been nominated on multiple occasions for Grammy Awards, and has won a great number of accolades, such as the Diapason d'Or in 1992, the Fono Forum Award, and numerous high ratings from such American publications as Downbeat Magazine (Four Stars - Highest Rating), Keyboard Magazine, Billboard Magazine, Heavy Metal, Jazzmatazz, Jazzmania (Jazz Alchemy/Best of 2000), CD Review ("10-10" Highest rating), England's Classical Music Web (Best of July, 2003). Furthermore, he attained the prestigious German Record Critics' Award for his Wergo Records recording of "John Cage: Works for Piano and Prepared Piano Volume II" in 1991, and his Liszt recordings of the Three Piano Concertos, Spanish Rhapsody and Totentanz were all nominated for the 23rd International "F. Liszt" Record Grand Prix Du Disque by the National Cultural Foundation of Hungary.
In accounting for his success, Mr. Pierce credits his propensity for hard work, maintaining a singular vision and his ability to adapt various styles into his expansive repertoire. Above all, he has strived to lead an extraordinary life, to never look back, to impart kindness and understanding and to always move forward from one success to the next.
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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