Jeremy Siskind

Biography

The evidence that Jeremy Siskind is among the top jazz pianists of his generation is quickly becoming overwhelming: at age 26, Siskind is the winner of the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition, a second-place finisher in the Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition, a two-time finalist for the American Pianist Association's Cole Porter Fellowship, and a two-time second-place finisher at the Phillips Jazz Competition. Siskind, who was recently named a Professor of Piano at Western Michigan University's School of Music, made a sold-out solo debut at Carnegie Hall in 2012, performing Debussy's Etudes in the first half and jazz improvisations in the second half.

As a composer, Siskind has received recognition in the form of ASCAP's Young Jazz Composers Award, Downbeat Magazine's Student Music Award, and has twice traveled to Japan as the American representative in Yamaha's Junior Original Composition competition. A composer and clinician for Hal Leonard, Siskind's 2011 has published two books, Jazz Etude Inspirations - a set of original compositions - and The Magic of Standards - intermediate arrangements of favorite jazz classics.

Siskind's 2012 CD release, Finger-Songwriter, has been hailed as "one of the best albums I've heard all year" by critic Dave Sumner, "one of the most remarkable recordings I've heard in a very long time" by the MinnPost's Pamela Espeland and "the most exciting musical project I've heard in a long time" by Andrea Carter of Jazz Police.  It was placed in emusic's top 100 CDs of 2012 in any genre. His 2010 release, Simple Songs (for When the World Seems Strange), featuring Ted Poor, Chris Lightcap, and Jo Lawry, was awarded four stars in a review from Downbeat, and appeared on three jazz critics'  "Best CDs of 2010" features.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music (High Honors; degrees in Jazz Performance and Music Theory) with a Masters from Columbia University (degree in English and Comparative Literature), Siskind's primary teachers include Fred Hersch, Sophia Rosoff, Tamir Hendelman, Tony Caramia, Harold Danko.