Overview
Pianist Xak Bjerken has appeared with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the Schoenberg Ensemble, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Disney Hall. He has performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Glinka Hall in St. Petersburg, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, and for many years performed throughout the US as a member of the Los Angeles Piano Quartet. He has held chamber music residencies at the Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival, and Olympic Music Festival. He is the director of Ensemble X, a new music ensemble at Cornell, and has served on the faculty of Kneisel Hall, the Eastern Music Festival, and at the Chamber Music Conference at Bennington College. Bjerken has worked closely with composers Győrgy Kurtag, Sofia Gubaidulina, Steven Stucky, and George Benjamin, and has premiered piano concertos by Stephen Hartke, Elizabeth Ogonek, and Jesse Jones, a recording of which was released by Naxos in 2021. He released his first solo recording on CRI in 2001, and has since recorded for Koch International, Chandos, Albany Records, Artona, and has recently released his third recording for Open G Records, presenting solo and chamber works by Steven Stucky.
Xak Bjerken is Professor of Music at Cornell University where he co-directs Mayfest, an international chamber music festival with his wife, pianist Miri Yampolsky. He studied with Aube Tzerko at the University of California at Los Angeles and received his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the Peabody Conservatory as a student of and teaching assistant to Leon Fleisher. Xak is the proud father of Misha (bassist), Anna (singer), and Maya (athlete and stargazer).
In the news
- Mayfest chamber music festival returns to Ithaca May 19-23
- Doctor/musician alumnus takes stage in Van Cliburn competition
- loadbang offers concerts as 2022-23 Stucky Residency for New Music ensemble
- Mayfest chamber music festival returns to Ithaca May 20-24
- Concerto highlights individual voice and the sound of community
- Festival takes listeners on musical pilgrimage around Arts Quad
- New impact grants expand humanities research
- $2M in New Frontier Grants boost high-impact A&S research
- Center for Historical Keyboards presents fall concerts online
- Department of Music shares performances online
- Israeli Chamber Project performs in inaugural Steven Stucky Residency concert
- New Cornell hub for historical keyboards opened Sept. 6
- Cornell Music announces Mayfest Chamber Music Festival
- Music announces spring semester events
- Mayfest to feature Chiaroscuro Quartet
- Concert celebrates Ensemble X's 20th anniversary
- Andy Sheng ’20 wins Cornell Concerto Competition
- Music professor releases chamber music disc
- Cornell Council for the Arts supports 35 new projects
- New Music Performers Ensemble X Celebrate Twentieth Anniversary Season
- 10th annual Mayfest features music, wine, yoga, poetry
- Music and poetry intersect in March 18 concert
MUSIC Courses - Fall 2023
- MUSIC 3511 : Individual Instruction
- MUSIC 3513 : Individual Instruction
- MUSIC 3514 : Individual Instruction
- MUSIC 4501 : Individual Instruction
- MUSIC 4651 : Chamber Music Ensemble
- MUSIC 4901 : Independent Study in Music
- MUSIC 4911 : Honors in Music
- MUSIC 7901 : Independent Study in Music