"Delicate and refined, the subtle beauty of [Kalichstein’s] solo piano begged listeners to lean in and listen more closely. [The Concerto No. 27] is not one of Mozart's more extroverted or flashy compositions; it requires patience and finesse to make its fragile, simple melodies sing. Kalichstein filled his playing with this sort of sensitivity, particularly evident in his artful use of rubato." -Tennessean, May 31, 2008

Acclaimed for the heartfelt intensity and technical mastery of his playing, pianist Joseph Kalichstein enthralls audiences throughout the United States and Europe, winning equal praise as orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He is also the first Chamber Music Advisor to the Kennedy Center, an appointment that grew out of his close association with the Center over many seasons. He has given solo recitals there, appeared many times with the National Symphony Orchestra, and played a major role in chamber music festivals devoted to Brahms and Beethoven ... read full bio

Acclaimed for the heartfelt intensity and technical mastery of his playing, pianist Joseph Kalichstein enthralls audiences throughout the United States and Europe, winning equal praise as orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He is also the first Chamber Music Advisor to the Kennedy Center, an appointment that grew out of his close association with the Center over many seasons. He has given solo recitals there, appeared many times with the National Symphony Orchestra, and played a major role in chamber music festivals devoted to Brahms and Beethoven.

 Summer 2008 marked the 40^th Anniversary of Mr. Kalichstein's first appearance at the Aspen Music Festival in 1968, which he celebrated with a four piano extravaganza including friends and colleagues Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman and Misha Dichter as well as a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. He also recently participated in the Ravinia Festival's ongoing Mozart celebration, performing two of the piano concerti with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under James Conlon, Ravinia's music director. During the 2008-09 season, Mr. Kalichstein will perform solo recitals throughout the U.S. and tour the U.S. and Europe with the acclaimed Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson piano trio.

Recent orchestral engagements have included performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra, and return tours to Japan, Germany, New Zealand, and Scandinavia. He continues to record and play in music capitals worldwide with the famed Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson piano trio, who celebrated their 30^th Anniversary last season and with whom he appeared in the opening month's festivities of Carnegie's new Zankel Hall.  In March 2006, an emotional and musical highlight for Mr. Kalichstein was a special tour, which included several major U.S. cities, as a soloist with the Juilliard orchestra under James DePriest, helping to celebrate his alma mater's 100^th birthday.

Born in Tel Aviv, Mr. Kalichstein came to the United States in 1962. His principal teachers included Joshua Shor in Israel and Edward Steuermann and Ilona Kabos at The Juilliard School. Prior to his 1969 Leventritt Award victory, he won the Young Concert Artists Auditions. As a result, he gave a heralded New York recital debut and, at the invitation of Leonard Bernstein, performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the New York Philharmonic in a nationally televised concert on CBS.

With his diverse repertoire of works ranging from Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms to 20th-century works by Bartok, Prokofiev and others, Mr. Kalichstein has collaborated with such celebrated conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Christoph von Dohnányi, James DePreist, Charles Dutoit, Lawrence Foster, Zubin Mehta, Andre Previn, Kurt Sanderling, Leonard Slatkin, Edo de Waart, David Zinman and the late George Szell and Erich Leinsdorf. His orchestral engagements have included performances with the Atlanta, Baltimore, Barcelona, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, London, Montreal, National, NHK (Tokyo), Quebec, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, San Diego, Saint Louis, Seattle, Utah and Vienna symphony orchestras; the Berlin, Helsinki, Israel, London, Los Angeles, New York, Oslo, Rotterdam and Stockholm philharmonic orchestras; the Cleveland, Halle and Minnesota orchestras; and the English, Scottish, Franz Liszt and Saint Paul chamber orchestras. He has been enthusiastically received at the Helsinki, Edinburgh, Aspen, Prague, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Salzburg, and Verbier festivals.

A favorite of New York concertgoers, Mr. Kalichstein has appeared in several recitals on Carnegie Hall's "Keyboard Virtuosi" series. He has also appeared there as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Leipzig Chamber Orchestra and with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. He frequently collaborates with the world's great string quartets, among them the Emerson, Guarneri and Juilliard.

Mr. Kalichstein's recent releases are a disc of works by Brahms and Schumann on the Koch label, "The Romantic Piano," on Audiofon, a two-disc set featuring works of C.P.E. Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schubert, and Ellen Taafe Zwillich's Piano Concerto, part of Koch International's complete recording project of her work.