WARREN JONES
MASTER TEACHER
BIOGRAPHY
Warren Jones enjoys a notably eclectic career that has taken him to virtually every corner of the musical world. He performs with some of today’s best-known artists such as Stephanie Blythe and Anthony Dean Griffey, and he is the Principal Pianist for the exciting California-based chamber music ensemble, Camerata Pacifica. In the past he has partnered such great performers as Marilyn Horne, Håkan Hagegård, Kathleen Battle, Samuel Ramey, Christine Brewer, Barbara Bonney, Carol Vaness, Judith Blegen, Salvatore Licitra, Tatiana Troyanos, Thomas Hampson, James Morris, and Martti Talvela; and he has appeared in concerts with both the Juilliard Quartet and the Borremeo Quartet. Recently, Mr. Jones has appeared in recital with baritone Sidney Outlaw at The Atlanta Opera and San Francisco Opera and led masterclasses at Merola Opera Program and Source Song. This season includes Master Teacher residencies and masterclasses at Temple University and Boston Conservatory.
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Mr. Jones is a longtime faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music and a former faculty member at the Music Academy of the West, and recently finished an appointment as Artist in Residence in Music at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. In 2017, Mr. Jones was invited by the National Association of Teachers of Singing to be the inaugural Master Teacher in their Intern Program for young collaborative pianists at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto; and later in that year, he served as Artist in Residence in Opera at New England Conservatory and at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Mr. Jones has received the “Achievement Award” from the Music Teachers National Association of America, their highest honor; and has been selected as “Collaborative Pianist of the Year” by the publication Musical America. In the summer of 2018, he inaugurated an innovative Vocal Workshop program at the Manchester Music Festival in Vermont for young singers and pianists, and he will return there following this engagement in Toronto. His schedule in 2019 also included a residency at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he taught and performed alongside members of the Takacs Quartet.
As an invited guest at the White House, Mr. Jones has performed for state dinners in honor of the leaders of Canada, Russia, and Italy; and three times he has been the guest of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court for musical afternoons in the East Conference Room at the Court. As a musical jurist, he has participated in judging the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the Montreal International Vocal Competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, and the Naumberg Awards. He joined the jury of the prestigious First China International Piano Competition in Beijing in May 2019.
A graduate of both New England Conservatory and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mr. Jones was honored with the Doctor of Music degree from SFCM, and recently was selected as a faculty member of the Board of Trustees at MSM.
His discography contains thirty-one recordings on every major label in a wide range of classical, romantic, and contemporary repertory. Most recently, recorded Lament, live at Brevard Music Center, alongside baritone Sidney Outlaw.
His conducting appearances are similarly varied: he has led sold-out critically acclaimed performances of Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and Trouble in Tahiti of Bernstein. In 2014, he conducted the world premiere of a new operatic version of A Christmas Carol at the Houston Grand Opera.
Current as of August 17, 2023
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"... endlessly fascinating…” – The Irish Times
“Wednesday's NCH/The Irish Times Celebrity concert by the violin and piano duo of Catherine Leonard and Warren Jones placed what you might regard as exemplary test pieces at either end of what turned out to be an evening of hugely stimulating music-making. The lazy meditativeness of Ravel's opening movement was beautifully caught, as if the two players were musing with a kind of independent togetherness. Jones's dissection of the piano writing in the central Blues movement was endlessly fascinating, with even the slightest and shortest of chordal dabs given perfect harmonic colouring, and the violin's strumming sounding more banjo-like than ever. The moto perpetuo finale was breathlessly exciting."
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"... near-flawless…” – The Boston Globe
“The songs of Richard Strauss, however, five of which followed, are never easy. The soprano - gorgeous in a powder blue gown and iridescent wrap - treaded cautiously, particularly in the middle part of her range, which bordered on an incorporeal delicacy. On the top, though, the familiar gilt-edged timbre still gleamed, while Warren Jones, the superb pianist, judiciously reduced the dynamic without sacrificing tonal depth. In a near-flawless "Morgen," Jones's pearly luminescence and Dame Kiri's silken line were in magical, crystalline confluence.”
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"... the recital's high point..." – Philadelphia Inquirer
“Dame Kiri Te Kanawa opened the Kimmel Center's classical-music season Saturday ... in recital with pianist Warren Jones ... The biggest challenges were positioned at points when Te Kanawa would be vocally freshest, progressing from there into her comfort zone but avoiding sameness with fluctuating emotional temperature and varied piano writing, which was always noticeable because Jones is so interesting. He brought a particular celestial expansiveness to Strauss' 'Morgen.' We know from the composer's own recordings that he'd never stretch a musical idea so far. ... It was the recital's high point."
REPRESENTATIVES
General