Daniel Pollack Biography

Audiences across five continents – North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Africa — recognize the pianism of Daniel Pollack for its signature colors in sound, coupled with over-the-edge thrilling virtuosity, giving his performances an electrifying element that catches the imagination of concert audiences. Critics speak about “his astonishing pianism,” Washington Post; “his dramatic tension, poignant lyricism,” Diapason Magazine, Paris, France; and “his torrents of sound that turned feathery flurries of delicate sounds,” Los Angeles Times.

Pollack was recently featured at the 2016 St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, Russia, a Festival of Festivals that attracted wide international attendance. Pollack was a guest speaker at the opening plenary session, participated on several panels that included Sergei Prokofiev’s grandson Gabriel Prokofiev, and gave the concluding concert, a solo recital, at the Mariinsky. He was also designated as an Honorary Cultural Ambassador to the Russian Federation.

Other career highlights include appearances during the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia as soloist with conductor Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra and as soloist with such major international philharmonics as London’s Royal; Seoul, Korea; Moscow State Philharmonic, Russia; Hong Kong, China; Kiev Ukraine; Bogota, Colombia; Montevideo, Uruguay; and in the U.S., as soloist with the philharmonics of New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore, San Francisco, Minnesota, among numerous others.

Additionally, Pollack has performed solo recitals in such major music centers as London’s Royal Festival Hall; Vienna’s Musikverein; Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw; Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon; Seoul’s Arts Center; Moscow’s Bolshoi Zal; New York’s Carnegie Hall; Beijing’s National Concert Hall; and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall.

Pollack is much in demand on international competition juries. He has participated several times on the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow as well as the Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition in Brussels; Vladimir Horowitz, Kiev, Ukraine; Leeds, England; Maria Callas, Athens, Greece; Hamamatsu, Japan; UNISA in Pretoria, South Africa; Anton Rubinstein, Dresden, Germany; Prokofiev, St. Petersburg, Russia; and the Rachmaninoff in Moscow, among others.

Pollack has several recordings including: on Classical Records label, titled ‘Daniel Pollack in Moscow;’ on RCM label titled ‘COLORS’ ; a Grammy-nominated recording for Naxos, the complete solo piano works of Samuel Barber; an all-Chopin recital recorded in the Bolshoi Zal of the Philharmonic in St. Petersburg, Russia, released on Sony; as well as two ‘crossover’ recordings of popular short romantic works on Four Winds label.

Pollack was also featured in a profile in the New York Times headlined “Piano Man, Winning Russian Hearts and Minds” in which it was quoted, “he is now a legend in Russia.” And in the International New York Times, it was headlined, “A Musical ‘love affair’ with Russia.”

Pollack first garnered the music world’s attention when he became a prizewinner in the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. Following, he concertized throughout the former Soviet Union and became the first American to record for the Melodya label, recordings that sold in the millions throughout the former Soviet Union over several decades, and continue to be on the market in Russia today. Many of these recordings were re-issued worldwide under several different labels, most recently on Cambria, distributed worldwide, entitled, “The Legendary Moscow Recitals” recordings of Pollack’s early years.

Pollack has held several visiting artist faculty positions including The Juilliard School, Columbia University and Yale’s School of Music. Pollack is currently on the faculty of the Thornton School of Music, at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.