Jed Distler

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Jed Distler (Paula Court)

Called "an altogether extraordinary pianist" (Newark Star-Ledger), “a witty, congenial and adventurous pianist and composer” (New York Times) and “the Downtown keyboard magus" (The New Yorker), Jed Distler has premiered works by Frederic Rzewski, Lois V Vierk, Virko Baley, Wendy Mae Chambers, Andrew Thomas, Simeon ten Holt, Virgil Thomson, David Maslanka, William Schimmel, Kitty Brazelton, Alvin Curran and Eleanor Hovda, many which were written especially for him.

In addition to recent commissions from Jenny Lin, IonSound and Song in Music, his works have been recorded by Margaret Leng Tan, Guy Livingston and Quattro Mani, among other new-music luminaries, and no summer would be complete without WNYC’s ritual broadcast of Jed’s String Quartet No. 1, "The Mister Softee Variations." Distler's 2011 solo piano release on the Musical Concepts label “Meditate With The Masters” features his own arrangements of famous classical themes, while his work also can be found on Bridge, New World, Decca, Nonesuch, Naxos and Point Classics.

As Composers Collaborative's co-founder and artist director, Distler has created and programmed such innovative festivals as Solo Flights, Non Sequiturand the long-running Serial Underground series at New York’s landmark Cornelia Street Café. A regularly featured CD reviewer and blogger for Gramophone and Classicstoday.com where he mostly writes about piano music, Jed helped uncover the notorious Joyce Hatto scandal in February 2007.

Recent projects include recitals devoted to Thelonious Monk’s complete songs and a new record-breaking piece for 180 keyboard instruments. Distler taught for more than 20 years at Sarah Lawrence College, and has received grants and awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer and American Composers Forum, plus a coveted MacDowell Colony residency.