American pianist Stephen Porter has been critically acclaimed this season for recitals that were “simply stunning” and “an amazing sound” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), his Schubert B-flat Sonata at the 2011 Boston Early Music Festival was praised as “extraordinary...compelling and moving” (Berkshire Review), and Slate Magazine has called his live performance “the most exciting and appropriate Beethoven Appassionata.” He performs extensively in the U.S., and has given solo recitals at Albert Long Hall in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Rockefeller Foundation at Lake Como, Italy. Mr. Porter was the featured guest soloist with the Amadeus Orchestra of London at LSO St. Luke’s, and this year can be heard at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, performing Bach, Ravel and the European premiere of the Second Piano Sonata by Andrew List. Solo recital venues where he has recently appeared include Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, Amherst College’s Buckley Recital Hall, the Nantucket Atheneum and the Frederick Historic Piano Collection. Steinway & Sons selected him to give five concerts as part of the Legendary Instruments of the Immortals Tour, as well as to present the unique Walden Woods Concert Grand and give lecture-recitals on the Horowitz piano.

His many chamber music activities include performances with members of the St. Louis Symphony, and with concertmaster David Halen at the invitation of the Missouri Fine Arts Academy. He is a frequent collaborator with acclaimed mezzo-soprano Krista River, and their current recitals include several works by Ned Rorem, coached by the composer. This season he was guest soloist for the Brahms Piano Quintet in Fort Lauderdale with the principals of the South Florida Symphony, and with conductor David Hodgkins and the New England Classical Singers. Other recent chamber music appearances of note include a commemorative concert of the Charles Ives Piano Trio at the composer’s alma mater the Hopkins School in New Haven, and the remarkable first piano part for the original version of Rossini’s “Petite Messe Solennelle” at the Merrimack College Rogers Center for the Arts. Mr. Porter’s several recitals at the Frederick Collection, including an interview regarding his performance of the final three Beethoven Sonatas on an original instrument, have been recorded live for broadcast on National Public Radio. He has also recorded the final three Schubert sonatas, Moments Musicaux and an original song transcription on the Frederick Collection’s 1828 Viennese Graf.

Stephen Porter graduated magna cum laude from Oberlin College, and from the New England Conservatory of Music with Distinction. His teachers were Peter Takacs, Jacob Maxin and Paul Doguereau, the protégé of Ravel. He has judged national and international piano competitions and given masterclasses at many schools, including Washington University, Boston University, the New England Conservatory and the Longy School of Music. Mr. Porter has been on the piano faculties of Webster University and Phillips Andover Academy, and the chamber music faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He is a past winner of the prestigious Artist Presentation Society auditions.