Jeremy Denk wins ‘Genius Grant,’ will play with CU Symphony Friday, Sept. 27
Jeremy Denk, the pianist and writer who will perform with the CU Symphony Friday, Sept. 27, was named a recipient of a prestigious Macarthur Fellowship — aka Genius Grant — on Tuesday.
“An extraordinary pianist and essayist of keen musical intellect, Denk is engaging listeners and readers in a deeper appreciation of classical music,” the Macarthur Foundation wrote on its website.
The fellowship recognizes not just Denk’s “virtuosic dexterity and imagination” as a pianist, but also his skills as a “gifted expositor” whose blog, liner notes, articles in the New Yorker, New Republic and other mainstream publications offer a “spirited ‘life log’ of technical analysis, informative repartee, and witty memoir.”
The MacArthur Fellowship is a five-year grant to individuals who show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future. “(T)he fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishment, but rather an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential,” according to the foundation.
This year’s 24 recipients will receive $625,000 each, paid over five years.
Fresh from a full summer featuring debuts in Australia and Slovenia and concerts in Santa Barbara, Santa Fe and Detroit, the world-renowned Denk will join the CU Symphony for the first time at Macky Auditorium.
The program will include Liszt’s “Piano Concerto No. 1” and Rachmaninov’s “Symphony No. 2.” The CU Symphony, under the direction of Gary Lewis, performs a diverse repertory of large-scale works, and has appeared in Boulder, Denver and Aspen.
More on Jeremy Denk’s appearance with the CU Symphony.
Click here for information about all 2013 Genius Grant recipients.