Pianist Shai Wosner has attracted international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity, and creative insight. His performances of a broad range of repertoire—from Beethoven and Schubert to Ligeti and the music of today—reflect a degree of virtuosity and intellectual curiosity that has made him a favorite among audiences and critics, who note his “keen musical mind and deep musical soul” (NPR’s All Things Considered).

This season, Wosner gave the world premiere of Vijay Iyer’s Piano Concerto Handmade Universe with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra presented by the Peoples’ Symphony Concerts (PSC) in New York, where he is the 2020-2024 Artist-in-Residence. 

In September 2023, Wosner’s latest album, a recording of Wosner’s performance of Beethoven’s 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120, was released on Onyx Classics. With this album, Wosner joins the ranks of legendary pianists who have recorded Beethoven’s monumental 33 variations.

Wosner is a recipient of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. He was in residence with the BBC as a New Generation Artist, during which he appeared frequently with the BBC orchestras, including conducting Mozart concertos from the keyboard with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. 

Born in Israel, Wosner enjoyed a broad musical education from an early age, studying piano with Opher Brayer and Emanuel Krasovsky, as well as composition, theory, and improvisation with André Hajdu. He later studied with Emanuel Ax at The Juilliard School, where Wosner is now on the piano faculty. 

Sponsored by Franziska Schoenfeld