Sponsored by KNKX. Sarah Ioannides, conductor with guest artist, Mackenzie Melemed, piano.
Boulanger: D’un Matin du Printemps
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Ravel: La Valse
Strauss: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier

Meet the Soloist
Recipient of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, American pianist Mackenzie Melemed’s international career continues to flourish. A Steinway Artist, he is consistently lauded as a consummate solo artist, a remarkably sensitive chamber musician and first-class soloist with orchestra.

At the age of three, Mr. Melemed’s grandfather bought him a keyboard at a yard sale, leading to his enrollment in a beginner piano course. Performances at local senior centers soon became a weekly occurrence, and by the time he turned seven, he had given over 200 concerts. He was invited to perform at the White House Holiday Open House for five consecutive years (2004-2008) and in 2007, only one year after beginning classical training, Mr. Melemed won the grand prize at the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition and gave his Carnegie Hall debut.

Mr. Melemed is a graduate of the Artist Diploma program at The Juilliard School and earned both his bachelor’s and Master’s of Music degrees from the five-year-dual-degree program. He was the winner of Juilliard’s 2019 Leo B. Ruiz Carnegie Hall Recital Prize and 2018 Arthur Rubinstein Prize, as well as the Jade Medal at the 2019 China International Music Competition and the first prize and chamber music prize at Finland’s 2017 Maj Lind International Piano Competition. He was a laureate of the 2021 American Pianists Awards and received a cash prize of $50,000 for the distinction.

Mr. Melemed’s 2023-2024 season includes several debuts and numerous re-engagements with orchestras in the United States, Canada and Finland. He has lived in Finland since 2020.