A “remarkable and insightful musician" (LA Times), Adam Tendler is a recognized figure in new music and leading interpreter of American composers. Between 2005 and 2006, Tendler appeared in all fifty United States in a grassroots recital 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. Tendler has recorded performances and masterclasses for the digital music platform, Tido, collaborated with Edition Peters on a new edition of John Cage's In a Landscape, released the premiere recording of Edward T. Cone’s 21 Little Preludes, and his forthcoming album of piano works by Robert Palmer will appear on New World Records in 2019. An active presence in all contemporary music genres, Tendler has also performed the complete major piano works of Aaron Copland, and collaborates with the John Cage Trust and Edition Peters in presenting Cage’s work internationally. His second book, tidepools, will be released this winter.
ACCLAIM
“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 Blog
“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
