The New York Times declared Michael Brown “a young piano visionary,” praising him for his “powerful technique and a vivid imagination.” Noted for his “great confidence and rhythmic flair” by Gramophone, he is the First Prize Winner of the 2010 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition. An equally committed pianist and composer, Brown’s unique artistry stems from this duality and is reflected in his creative approach to programming, where he often interweaves the classics with contemporary works and his own compositions.

Brown performed at Alice Tully Hall as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra under New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert and in a solo recital as winner of the 2012 Juilliard William Petschek Piano Debut Recital Award. He has appeared on four continents and performed at other major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 2012-13, Michael Brown has a return engagement with the New Haven Symphony (MacDowell Concerto No. 2), plays the Grieg Concerto with the Santa Maria Philharmonic, Bakersfield Symphony and Roswell Symphony and performs Mozart’s Concerto No. 14 with the Netanya-Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra in Israel. He offers solo recitals around the US this season, including a performance on the Ravinia Rising Stars Series, and has recently given recitals at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Gilmore Festival’s Rising Stars Series, Market Square Concerts, Bay Chamber Concerts and Chamber Music Society of Little Rock. He is a participating artist at the Marlboro Music Festival.

As a composer, Brown’s work has been described as “striking” by The New York Times and “intriguing” by The Washington Post, and he is the recipient of the 2011 Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Award and the 2009 Palmer-Dixon Prize from Juilliard. Commissions in 2012-13 include a violin/cello duo for the Olympic Music Festival, a set of songs for the mezzo-soprano Naomi O’Connell, and a work for cello/piano and film depicting the great city of New York. His work,Constellations and Toccata, written for pianist Orion Weiss, was premiered at the Kennedy Center in January 2012. His compositions have been performed on the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Look & Listen Festivals and at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, (Le) Poisson Rouge and Bargemusic, among others. Brown was the 2008 Composer-in-Residence for Pianofest in the Hamptons and is a member of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI).

Michael Brown’s debut solo CD features works by Schubert, Debussy, and Brown and is set for release on CAG Records in the fall of 2012. Upcoming CD projects are an all-Schubert disc for Naxos and a recording of solo piano works by George Perle for Bridge Records.

The Canellakis-Brown Duo, his ensemble with cellist Nicholas Canellakis, appears at Bargemusic and has a three-concert residency at Barbès in Brooklyn in 2012-13. This season, Brown also collaborates with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Linden String Quartet and violinists Elena Urioste and Caroline Goulding. He has toured with “Musicians from Ravinia” and violinist Miriam Fried was the featured American pianist at the Kyoto International Music Festival in Japan. He has appeared at the Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, Steans Institute at Ravinia and Beijing International Music Festivals.

A native New Yorker, Michael Brown earned dual Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano and Composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald and composers Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. He is a two-time winner of The Juilliard School’s Gina Bachauer Piano Competition and has received the Raeburn Award for Artist of Special Promise from the 2009 Honens International Piano Competition and a top prize at the New York Piano Competition. He has also worked with Mitsuko Uchida, Alfred Brendel, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Pamela Frank, Adam Kent and Richard Goode.