Pianist Xak Bjerken has appeared with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the Schoenberg Ensemble, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Disney Hall.
He has performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Glinka Hall in St Petersburg, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, and for many years performed throughout the US as a member of the Los Angeles Piano Quartet.
He has held chamber music residencies at the Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival and Olympic Music Festival, served on the faculty of Kneisel Hall, the Eastern Music Festival, and at the Chamber Music Conference at Bennington College and is the director of Ensemble X, a new music ensemble.
Bjerken has worked closely with composers Győrgy Kurtag, Sofia Gubaidulina, Steven Stucky, and George Benjamin, and recently premiered piano concertos by Stephen Hartke, Elizabeth Ogonek, and Jesse Jones, recording them for Naxos. He released his first solo recording on CRI, and has since recorded for Bridge Records, Koch International, Chandos, Albany Records, and released his third recording for Open G Records, presenting solo and chamber works by Steven Stucky.
Xak Bjerken is Professor of Music at Cornell University where he co-directs Mayfest, an international chamber music festival with his wife, pianist Miri Yampolsky. He studied with Aube Tzerko at the UCLA and received his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the Peabody Conservatory as a student of and teaching assistant to Leon Fleisher.