Biography

Internationally acclaimed pianist, Brandt Fredriksen enjoys a dynamic and versatile career as a performer, musical director and teacher. His debut recitals were held in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Gasteig Cultural Center in Munich, Germany, and Vafopoulio Cultural Center in Thessaloniki, Greece. Fredriksen has appeared in recitals as a soloist and a collaborative artist at many prestigious venues including Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Jazz, Merkin Hall, Florence Gould Hall, Gasteig Cultural Center, Megaron Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece and Beijing Concert Hall in China. In 1999, he was selected by the U.S. and China Foundation to perform recitals and concertos throughout China, a tour that included Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Shenyang.

An active chamber musician, Fredriksen collaborates frequently with members of the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, The Juilliard School, New Hellenic String Quartet, Harrington String Quartet and the American String Quartet. His performances have been heard on Radio and TV in the United States, Greece, and China, including live appearances and interviews on NPR, WQXR-FM, Greek TV and Radio, and Beijing TV.

Fredriksen’s interest in multimedia and his affinity for collaboration has led him to numerous creative ventures in both film and theater. Presently, he serves as pianist and music director of That’s Not Tango: Astor Piazzolla-a Life in Music, conceived and co-written by Lesley Karsten and Stephen Wadsworth. Other recent collaborative recordings include Richard Strauss' Enoch Arden (in German), a melodrama for narrator and piano with actor Paul Pattloch; The Complete Brahms Sonatas for Violin and Piano with violinist Anton Miller and various contemporary works by composer William Weigel.

This summer, Fredriksen will serve on the faculty of the International Music Performance Program of Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, Greece. In the past summers, he has performed at Three Bridges International Chamber Music Festival, Summit Music Festival, Aria International Summer Academy, Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center, and the International Academy of Music in Garfagnana, Italy. He is founder and executive director of Silver Bay Summer Music Festival, an international summer chamber music program which began in Silver Bay, New York. Today it has expanded its international presence to include Germany, Italy, and Greece.

As educator, Dr. Fredriksen has held professorships at Georgia State University, Kent State University and Lawrence University and currently serves on the piano faculty of Manhattan School of Music's pre-college division.

A Munz Award recipient from The Juilliard School, Brandt Fredriksen holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University. While at Indiana, he spent a year studying abroad in Freiburg, Germany and Budapest, Hungary at the Liszt Academy of Music.