Performer Biography

Liam Kaplan

Pianist and composer Liam Kaplan has appeared at Weill Recital Hall, Tenri Cultural Institute, Merkin Hall, and many other venues across the United States. He has enjoyed the performance of his compositions by ETHEL, the Talea Ensemble, the Locrian Chamber Players, the Da Capo Chamber Players, and the JACK Quartet, among others. His debut recording of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II was released in July 2019, supported by a FIG Grant from Oberlin Conservatory. Kaplan made recent solo appearances in Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra and in Messiaen’s Couleurs de la cité céleste with the Oberlin Sinfonietta conducted by Tim Weiss. In 2018, Raphael Jiménez led the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in the premiere of his new work Rhapsody on a Chorale for string orchestra. Upcoming projects for the 2019-2020 season include a recording and performances of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and the premiere of a new concerto for piano and large chamber ensemble.

Kaplan won Oberlin’s John Elvin and Rudolf Serkin prizes, as well as Aspen’s 2019 ACA Piano Concerto Competition. He won first prize in the Inventions category of the 2013 Rosalyn Tureck International Bach Competition. He was also the recipient of the Ernst Hatch Wilkins Memorial Prize and the OFMC Agnes Fowler Scholarship at Oberlin. Kaplan won a 2019 BMI Student Composer Award for his 8 Preludes for solo piano. He has received scholarships to study at the Meadowmount School of Music, Aspen Music Festival, and Art of the Piano at CCM, where he was the second place winner for the 2019 Enlight Prize. Kaplan studied piano with Marcia Eckert, composition with Eleanor Cory, double bass with Judith Sugarman, and music theory with Gordon Minette at Mannes Prep. Piano teachers also include his mentor Seymour Bernstein, who is the subject of Ethan Hawke’s acclaimed documentary, Seymour: An Introduction, in which he is a featured performer. Kaplan is a rising fourth-year student at Oberlin where he studies piano with Alvin Chow and composition with Stephen Hartke, Jesse Jones, and Elizabeth Ogonek.