Diane Walsh, piano

With a reputation as a performer of “romantic sweep and arching lyricism” (The New York Times) and “a pianist with superb technique” (The Boston Globe) Diane Walsh has created an international career of distinction. On disc, as well as in recital, chamber music and concerto performances worldwide, she has brought a clear vision and superlative skill to a broad range of repertoire from Bach to Berg. In addition, her recent work on the theatre stage has further illuminated the ingenuity of her musical gifts.

In September 2007, Diane Walsh joined the cast of 33 Variations, a new play by Moisés Kaufman in its debut production at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. for a month-long run. The play is focused on the creation of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, which Ms. Walsh performs on stage throughout the play. The play had a second run at the La Jolla Playhouse in April 2008, and then ran on Broadway from February 9 to May 21, 2009 at the Eugene O'Neill Theater, starring Jane Fonda as the musicologist and with Ms. Walsh as the pianist.

Ms. Walsh has given recitals at such major venues as the 92 Street Y, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Merkin Concert Hall and the Miller Theatre in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Philharmonic Hall in Leningrad, Dvorak Hall in Prague, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, among many others. She has appeared in concerto performances with the San Francisco Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Austin, Syracuse and Delaware Symphonies, the American Symphony Orchestra in New York, and the radio symphonies of Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Berlin. Diane Walsh has toured with Orpheus and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and given concerto performances with orchestras in Brazil, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Russia.

An active recording artist, Ms. Walsh has made fourteen CDs of diverse repertoire for Sony, Nonesuch, Koch, Newport, Stereophile, Composers Recordings, Inc. and Biddulph. For Jonathan Digital Recordings, she has recorded the Beethoven Diabelli Variations, and most recently, volume one of the Complete Schubert Piano Sonatas.

In demand as a chamber musician, she has performed at many festivals including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Bard, Eastern Shore, the International Musician’s Seminar in Cornwall, and Strings in the Mountains. She has been guest artist with the Fine Arts, Mendelssohn, Brentano and Lydian String Quartets, and is a member of both the Walsh-Drucker-Cooper Trio, and of La Fenice (comprised of piano, string trio and oboe.) In addition, Ms. Walsh has served as Artistic Director of the Skaneateles Festival in upstate New York. During her long tenure she presented world-renowned performers and designed and performed in innovative programs such as An Evening with Bill Irwin and The Love Letters of Robert and Clara, set to music by the Schumanns.

Among her many honors and awards, Diane Walsh won the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and was winner of top prizes at both the Munich ARD and Salzburg Mozart Competition, the William Kapell International Competition in Maryland and the Busoni International Competition in Italy. A prizewinner in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, she also won that competition’s chamber music award.

Diane Walsh is a member of the piano faculty at Mannes College The New School for Music in New York City. She has served on the juries of national and international piano competitions such as the William Kapell, Concert Artists Guild, Young Concert Artists, PianoArts, and the Jovenes Concertistas Brasileiros Competition in Rio de Janeiro. Ms. Walsh is a Steinway Artist.