Bio(s)

ONE SENTENCE
Adam Tendler is a New York based pianist and author, and recent recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.

SHORT
A recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, "remarkable and insightful musician" (LA Times), "relentlessly adventurous pianist" (Washington Post) "joyfully rocking out at his keyboard" (New York Times), 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.

MEDIUM
A recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, "remarkable and insightful musician" (LA Times), "relentlessly adventurous pianist" (Washington Post) "joyfully rocking out at his keyboard" (New York Times), Adam Tendler is a recognized interpreter of living and modern composers. A pioneer of DIY culture in classical music, between 2005 and 2006 Tendler performed in all fifty United States as part of 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. He maintains a career as a concert soloist, recording artist, speaker and educator. Tendler released an album of piano works by Robert Palmer on New World Records in 2019. He has also 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, and released the premiere recording of Edward T. Cone’s 21 Little Preludes. An active presence in all contemporary concert 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. He released his second book, tidepools, in 2018.

QUOTES-ONLY
A 2019 recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, Adam Tendler, "joyfully rocking out at his keyboard" (New York Times), has been called a “remarkable and insightful musician... who made his piano sound like its legs were nowhere near the ground” by the LA Times, a "relentlessly adventurous pianist" by the Washington Post, “a virtuoso pianist” by The Village Voice, a “musical mastermind” by the Houston Press, a “probing and persuasive...quietly charismatic... intrepid... outstanding... maverick pianist” by The New Yorker, a "modern-music evangelist" by Time Out New York, and a "formidable" pianist "with a showman's knack" (San Francisco Chronicle) who "has managed to get behind and underneath the notes, living inside the music and making poetic sense of it all," by The Baltimore Sun, which continued, "if they gave medals for musical bravery, dexterity and perseverance, Adam Tendler would earn them all." New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini reported that Tendler played an outdoor performance of John Cage's music "captivatingly," and that "the wondrously subdued sounds silenced many, who listened closely even as street bustle and chirping birds blended in." London critic Frances Wilson described Tendler's memorized performance of Morton Feldman's Palais de Mari as "a concentrated listening experience...meditative, intense and beautifully poised." And the new music blog, "i care if you listen," described a performance at The Kitchen in New York City as "virtuosic... eerie... agonizing... distressing," and one audience member recently raved, "this was the most offensive musical performance I have experienced in my sixty years  of listening to music. Please take me off your emailing list. The pianist appeared to be quite competent, although he hinted that he enjoyed making the audience suffer."

VERY NARRATIVE
Adam Tendler is active in New York City, throughout the United States, and internationally as a concert pianist, queer author, experimental composer, educator at the local, university, and outreach level, and as a curator of concert programming geared toward community-building for performers and audiences alike. He has received accolades from publications like the New York Times, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New Yorker, and Washington Post, and yet remains firmly situated as an underground artist who presents uncompromising work and powerful musical experiences. In the same evening last fall, he premiered a commission exploring Black death and exploitation by composer Anthony Green in a small independent theatre, and then walked directly to the New York Philharmonic where he would play solo works by Luciano Berio and Meredith Monk (with Monk present). He can just as easily be seen tied to a piano while premiering a work for pianist and bondage artist (Nathan Hall's Tame Your Man), reading a score through a VR-helmet (Drew Baker's Stress Position), or screaming into a voice-distorted microphone as his body plays at maximum volume (Frederic Rzewski's Coming Together), as he is comfortable performing the Franz Liszt Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses in Brooklyn's Green-wood Cemetery or Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier in a Lower East Side loft.   

In 2019, Lincoln Center awarded Tendler with a Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists— this, more than twenty years after Tendler, completely unknown and 23 years old at the time, performed solo recitals in all fifty states in a project called America88x50, a tour offered for free to under-served communities and funded only by his earnings as a piano teacher, public school substitute, and construction worker. Before the age of ‘going viral’ and the widespread proliferation of DIY initiatives, he sustained the project by selling homemade CDs of his student recitals from Indiana University School of Music (now Jacob's School of Music) where in 2003 he graduated early and with distinction. That fifty-state tour became the subject of his interactive coming-out memoir, 88x50, which was honored as a Kirkus Indie Book of the Month and Lambda Literary Award Nominee. The book continues to earn an underground following among queer audiences, music students and classical music enthusiasts alike. He published his second book, tidepools, in 2019. 
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Still functioning independently, Adam has earned the trust of classical music's leading composers, administrators, music trusts, and concert series, performing on stages shared by leading commercial artists in his field and consulted as a contemporary music expert. He has become particularly recognized as a leading interpreter of American music, and has a reputation as an ambassador for the music of John Cage and the so-called "New York School" of composers. He has advocated, and is sought after for his performance and expertise in the music of Black, gay, politically radical composer Julius Eastman, whose music he has performed in a number of major retrospectives. At the same time, he has championed mid-century tonalist Robert Palmer, whose work he recorded for New World Records (Robert Palmer: Piano Music), an album he created from the ground-up. Tendler has performed Cage's Sonatas and Interludes from memory on several prominent stages, including New York’s Symphony Space, as well as Morton Feldman's Palais de Maris from memory in Rothko Chapel, Aaron Copland's half-hour Piano Fantasy at le Poisson Rouge, also from memory. Adam most recently commissioned a new major work from Christian Wolff, which he combined with Robert Schumann's Carnaval, the work that inspired it—presented as a concert film produced by Kaufman Music Center and recorded in Merkin Hall.   As a concert programmer, Tendler has organized a number of ‘happenings’ in New York and beyond, including a series of 24-pianist performances of Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (both books presented in San Francisco and New York City), and the semi-annual collaborative concert, A Very George Crumb Christmas. Just before the Covid-19 pandemic, he organized a multi-pianist performance of Paul Hindemith's complete Ludus Tonalis in the East Village.  

As an educator, Adam has served as a guest lecturer at the New School, Manhattan School of Music, Princeton University, New York University, Bennington College, Kenyon College, Boston Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, Portland State University, University of Nebraska, University of Alaska and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He also serves on the piano faculty of Third Street Music School Settlement, the country’s first community music school which offers tuition assistance to more than 75% of its student body. He has recorded the music of J.S. Bach, CPE Bach, Amy Beach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, John Cage, Edward T. Cone, George Crumb, Edvard Grieg, Charles Griffes, Lou Harrison, Alan Hovhaness, Edward MacDowell, Erik Satie, Edward T. Cone. As previously mentioned, he recorded works for piano by long-neglected American composer Robert Palmer for New World Records in 2019, produced by legendary producer Judith Sherman. For that recording, he commissioned queer musicologist Daniel Johnson to analyze the music, and himself penned an essay about art-making and legacy for New Music USA's NewMusicBox website. 

Adam has remained active during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, with performances and collaborations with The Kitchen, The Guggenheim, The Broad Museum, National Sawdust, PS21-Chatham, and Sō Percussion, among others. He is currently in collaboration with Lincoln Center's former programming director, Hanako Yamaguchi, to curate music for a summer festival on the Hudson River's new park near the Whitney Museum, Little Island, and will premiere a new work for piano and orchestra by Devonté Hynes (a.k.a. Blood Orange), present two other artists' programs (Darian Thomas and PUBLIQuartet), oversee and coach young instrumentalists performing John Cage's 4'33" (in honor of children who lost parents to Covid), and perform the music of Philip Glass with frequent collaborator, pianist Jenny Lin. Adam is known throughout the arts community and the public beyond it for his commitment, expertise, excellence as a performer, personability, and self-reliance. He has proven himself for decades as a vital part of the classical and contemporary music landscape, and is driven to continue creating challenging, powerful musical experiences that resonate with all audiences.


LONG
A 2019 recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, Adam Tendler has been called a “remarkable and insightful musician...who made his piano sound like its legs were nowhere near the ground” by the LA Times, “a virtuoso pianist” by The Village Voice, "joyfully rocking out at his keyboard" (New York Times). He has been called a“musical mastermind” by the Houston Press, a “probing and persuasive...quietly charismatic... intrepid... outstanding... maverick pianist” by The New Yorker, a "modern-music evangelist" by Time Out New York, and a "formidable" pianist "with a showman's knack" (San Francisco Chronicle) who "has managed to get behind and underneath the notes, living inside the music and making poetic sense of it all," by The Baltimore Sun, who continued, "if they gave medals for musical bravery, dexterity and perseverance, Adam Tendler would earn them all." New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini reported that Tendler played an outdoor performance of John Cage's music "captivatingly," and that "the wondrously subdued sounds silenced many, who listened closely even as street bustle and chirping birds blended in."London critic Frances Wilson described Tendler's memorized performance of Morton Feldman's Palais de Mari at London’s St. John’s Smith Square as "a concentrated listening experience...meditative, intense and beautifully poised." The Herald-Tribune Sarasota wrote, "By performing [John Cage's] Sonatas and Interludes not only from memory, but in a darkened room, no light on the piano at all, he played with a natural authority demanding his audience to turn inward and tune in only to the music." And the new music blog, "i care if you listen," described Tendler's recent performance at The Kitchen in New York City as "virtuosic... eerie... agonizing... distressing," and one audience member recently raved, "this was the most offensive musical performance I have experienced in my sixty years  of listening to music. Please take me off your emailing list. The pianist appeared to be quite competent, although he hinted that he enjoyed making the audience suffer."

Recognized as a leading interpreter of American music, Tendler has performed solo recitals in all fifty United States, including solo engagements at Lincoln Center, San Francisco Symphony / SoundBox, Carnegie Hall, (le) Poisson Rouge, The Kitchen, the Green-Wood Cemetery Catacombs, The Met Brauer, Knockdown Center, Grace Cathedral (San Francisco), The Broad Museum, Symphony Space, National Sawdust, Issue Project Room, Roulette, Art Institute of Chicago, 92nd Street Y, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Joyce Theatre, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Columbia University, The Fisher Center at Bard College, New York’s Sheen Center, Princeton University, New York University, Bennington College, Kenyon College, Boston Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, Portland State University, University of Nebraska, University of Alaska and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, as well as artistic landmarks like Houston's Rothko Chapel, The Maverick Concert Hall, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Rubin Museum, Museum of the Moving Image, Joe’s Pub, Stonewall Inn, and James Turrell's Skypace in Sarasota, where he was the space's first musical performer.

Tendler’s association with the work of John Cage includes three sold-out recitals at the Rubin Museum in New York City (a memorized performance of the complete Sonatas and Interludes, a realization of Cage’s 10,000 Things, and Cage's Concert for piano and orchestra), a featured recital in the “Cage100” festival at Symphony Space, listed by New York Magazine as one of the Top 10 Classical Music Events of 2012, a Cage recital at the Maverick Theatre in Woodstock NY, where 4’33” had its premiere, as well as recordings and masterclasses of the composer’s work for Edition Peters, Cage’s sole publisher, in their digital music platform, Tido. Tendler curated and performed in a three-part retrospective of Cage and his circle's music at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles over three months in 2018.

Tendler’s memoir, 88x50, about the year he performed solo recitals in all fifty states, was a 2014 Kirkus Indie Book of the Month and Lambda Literary Award Nominee. He also recorded an audio version of the memoir. He maintains the blog, The Dissonant States, and his second book, tidepools, saw its release in December 2018.

As a concert programmer, Tendler has organized a number of happenings in New York and beyond that focus on community building in the classical music community, including 24-pianist performances of Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, and the collaborative concert, A Very George Crumb Christmas.
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He has recorded the music of J.S. Bach, CPE Bach, Amy Beach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, John Cage, George Crumb, Edvard Grieg, Charles Griffes, Lou Harrison, Alan Hovhaness, Edward MacDowell, Erik Satie, as well as the premiere recording of Edward T. Cone’s 21 Little Preludes. Tendler released an album of piano music by American composer Robert Palmer for New World Records in 2019.

A graduate of Indiana University, Tendler lives in New York City and, in addition to guest lectures at the New School and Manhattan School of Music, serves on the piano faculty of Third Street Music School Settlement, the country’s first community music school.

ALTERNATIVE
Adam Tendler has played the piano since the age of 6, but still sometimes can’t believe the piano is a thing—like, this big machine that makes a very particular sound that people take quite seriously, as if that sound is important and essential, eternal, timeless and primordial, like wind, waves, or volcano fire. But really it’s an accumulation of taste and preference, the sound of a piano, and a rather modern invention, right? So he thinks about that a lot. He also often can’t believe he plays the piano, particularly before a concert, and sometimes gets lost in the thought that Bach and Brahms and so many other composers never once heard the sound of, say, an airplane.
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