adamtendler.com

A recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists a "remarkable and insightful musician" (LA Times) "joyfully rocking out at his keyboard" (New York Times), pianist Adam Tendler is an internationally recognized interpreter of living, modern and classical composers. A pioneer of DIY culture in concert music, at age 23 Tendler performed solo recitals in all fifty United States as part of a grassroots tour he called America 88x50, which became the subject of his memoir, 88x50, a Kirkus Indie Book of the Month and Lambda Literary Award nominee. An active presence in contemporary and classical music alike as a soloist, recording artist, speaker and educator, Tendler is also considered a leading John Cage interpreter, and collaborates with the John Cage Trust and Edition Peters in presenting Cage’s work internationally. He recently released the album Robert Palmer: Piano Music on New World Records and published his second book, tidepools.

ACCLAIM

“a probing and persuasive musician... intrepid...outstanding...a maverick pianist”
‍
— The New Yorker

[Tendler’s performance of Philip Glass’s Two Pages] was a piece of hardcore minimalism that kept getting more hypnotic the longer it lasted, and at a certain point everyone was looking at each other with disbelieving looks. ‘He actually memorized the whole thing?’ ... a style that can best be described as simultaneously discerning and ecstatic.”

— Michael Strickland, SF Civic Center

‍“John Cage’s undulant, exotic “Mysterious Adventure” for prepared piano, [was] played captivatingly by Adam Tendler. The wondrously subdued sounds silenced many, who listened closely even as street bustle and chirping birds blended in.”
‍
—Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

“...keys were struck from afar by long objects such as a yardstick, umbrella, fishing rod, rake, squeegee and a broom just like the kind Johns liked to paint... Somehow, the sense that hitting a piano with a broom and your head against the wall is a proper prelude to playing the keys with utmost sensitivity.”

—Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times‍

“Pianist Adam Tendler doesn't just play the instrument — he manipulates it...”
‍
—Sam Byrd, Houston Press

“Tendler has managed to get behind and underneath the notes, living inside the music and making poetic sense of it all...if they gave medals for musical bravery, dexterity and perseverance, Adam Tendler would earn them all.”
‍
— The Baltimore Sun

“Tendler [displayed] his virtuosity, delivering this spicy music with clarity, speed and flair.”
‍
—Jim Lowe, The Times Argus

“a modern-music evangelist”
‍
—Time Out New York

“For real nightmarish intensity, though, the highlight of [Soundbox] was Kagel’s MM51, a multimedia extravaganza for piano, metronome and film. The pianist was Adam Tendler, playing Kagel’s dense, alluring keyboard harmonies with a showman’s knack for rhythmic edginess. Meanwhile, a constellation of live video feeds — fractured, flipped and bathed in the shadowy black and white of an Expressionist film — underscored the ominous tick-tock of the metronome, which was occasionally disrupted by a gloved and disembodied hand.”
‍
—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

Adam Tendler

events

LISTEN NOW

Notable Performances

ACCLAIM

FOLLOW

CONTACT