Joanna MacGregor, photo courtesy of the artist. David Kaplan, photo by Dario Acosta.
A pair of brilliant pianists joins participants from the Art of Piano program for a concert blending traditional and contemporary repertoire.
Back after audience-favourite appearances in 2024 and 2025, Joanna MacGregor is a world-renowned performer, composer, and conductor whose versatility has captivated audiences in over 80 countries. She’s released more than 40 solo recordings, ranging from Chopin and Piazzolla to Bach and John Cage, and has contributed to collaborative and compositional projects that encompass jazz, film, visual art, contemporary dance, and electronica. She’s also a highly experienced educator and serves as Head of Piano at London’s Royal Academy of Music.
Pianist and UCLA Associate Professor David Kaplan has been called “excellent and adventurous” by The New York Times. As an orchestra soloist, he’s appeared with the Britten Sinfonia at London’s Barbican and Das Sinfonie Orchester Berlin at the Philharmonie. He’s drawn steady acclaim for concert programs that creatively interweave classical, contemporary, and newly commissioned works. His solo album New Dances of the League of David was released in 2024 to immediate raves.
We’re lucky to have both MacGregor and Kaplan on faculty for the two-week Art of Piano residency, which offers professional pianists and pianist-composers the chance to work with internationally celebrated artists. Participants advance their craft through individual coaching, masterclasses, and performance opportunities.
Art of Piano is generously supported by lead donor Heather Edwards.
Additional support provided by the Alice and Betty Schultz Scholarships Endowment Fund for Dance and Music, Helen Graham, and the Yolanda Freeze Master Artists Music Fund.
About Joanna MacGregor & David Kaplan
Joanna MacGregor, CBE
Joanna MacGregor CBE is one of the world’s most innovative musicians, appearing as a concert pianist, curator and conductor. Head of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music and Professor of University of London, Joanna MacGregor was the Artistic Director of Dartington International Summer School & Festival 2014-2019, Artistic Director of the Bath International Music Festival 2006-2012, and curated the multi-arts Deloitte Ignite Festival at the Royal Opera House, as well as Aventures+, an orchestral series for Luxembourg Philharmonie. She runs an annual Summer Piano Festival at the Royal Academy, involving over a hundred young musicians playing core repertoire as well as collaborating with composers, actors, visual artists, writers and filmmakers. Joanna has just been appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Brighton Philharmonic, as it approaches its centenary.
David Kaplan
David Kaplan, pianist, has been called “excellent and adventurous” by The New York Times, and praised by the Boston Globe for “grace and fire” at the keyboard. As orchestra soloist, he has appeared with the Britten Sinfonia at London’s Barbican, Das Sinfonie Orchester Berlin at the Philharmonie, and with the Symphony Orchestras of Hawaii and San Antonio. As recitalist, he has performed at the Ravinia Festival, Sarasota Opera House, Music on Main in Vancouver, Strathmore, Washington’s National Gallery, and New York’s Carnegie and Merkin Halls.
Kaplan has consistently drawn critical acclaim for programs that creatively interweave classical, contemporary, and newly commissioned works. As a guest artist of Piano Spheres at Los Angeles’ Zipper Hall, he recently premiered “Quasi una Fantasia,” a program exploring the gray area between composition and improvisation through works by Anthony Cheung, Christopher Cerrone, and Andrea Casarrubios, together with Couperin, Beethoven, Schumann, Saariaho, Ligeti, and his own improvisations. Kaplan’s “New Dances of the League of David,” a recital infusing Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze with 16 new works by composers including Augusta Read Thomas, Marcos Balter, Caroline Shaw, and Andrew Norman was cited among the “Best Classical Music Performances of 2015” by The New York Times. The “New Dances” album was released in 2024 on the New Focus label, immediately garnering raves in Gramophone, Fanfare, and the Financial Times.
Balancing solo performances with meaningful collaborations, Kaplan has played with the Attacca, Ariel, Enso, Hausman, and Tesla String Quartets. As a core member of Decoda, the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall, he performs frequently in New York’s most exciting venues, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to National Sawdust, as well as creating innovative residencies as far away as Abu Dhabi, Mexico, and Scotland. The ensemble’s self-titled debut album was recorded at Tippet Rise Art Center, and has been nominated for a 2024 GRAMMY for the premiere recording of Valerie Coleman’s “Revelry,” originally composed for Decoda in 2018.
He is a veteran of numerous distinguished chamber music festivals and series, such as the Seattle Chamber Music, La Jolla, Bard, and Mostly Mozart Festivals, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest, and Barge Music. He is an alumnus of Tanglewood and the Ravinia-Steans Institute, and performs regularly as an alumnus of the Perlman Music Program, including with Itzhak Perlman at Miami’s Arsht Center. He serves as Co-Artistic Director of Lyrica Chamber Music, a community series in Morris County, NJ currently in its 36th season.
In addition to last year’s debut solo album, Kaplan has recorded for Naxos and Marquis Records, as well as for Nonesuch as part of his longstanding duo with pianist/composer Timo Andres. Performing often with his wife, flutist Catherine Gregory, the duo released “Vent” in 2023 on Bright Shiny Things, including music by Gabriela Lena Frank, David Lang, Mr. Andres, Schubert, and Prokofiev.
Kaplan was a student of the late Claude Frank, and previously studied with Walter Ponce and Miyoko Lotto. His mentors over the years have included Anton Kuerti, Richard Goode, and Emanuel Ax. He studied conducting at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Lutz Köhler, under the auspices of a Fulbright Fellowship from 2008-2010. The recipient of a DMA from Yale University in 2014, Kaplan earned his Bachelor from UCLA, where he has also served on the faculty since 2016, and now is the Associate Professor and Inaugural Shapiro Family Chair in Piano Performance.
David is proud to be a Yamaha/Bösendorfer Artist, and when at home in Los Angeles, he enjoys practicing on his childhood piano, a 1908 Hamburg Steinway model A. Away from the keyboard, he loves cartooning and cooking, and is mildly obsessed with classic cars.