Blair McMillen
Pianist Blair McMillen's musical tastes are broad, both in solo and chamber music, and they extend to improvisation, nontraditional recital settings, and jazz, a field in which he is self-taught. His recording career has focused heavily on contemporary music.
McMillen was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was raised there and in San Francisco. He attended Oberlin College, graduating in 1993. McMillen went on to the Manhattan School of Music and to the Juilliard School in Manhattan; at the latter, he won Juilliard's Gina Bachauer Competition and the Sony label's Elevated Standard's Career Grant. Over the course of his career, he has divided his time between solo appearances, chamber music performance, organization and direction of music festivals, and teaching. McMillen spent 12 years as the pianist with the contemporary-music-oriented Da Capo Chamber Players, and he has also performed with the American Modern Ensemble, the six-piano ensemble Grand Band, and the Perspectives Ensemble, among other groups. As a soloist, he has been in demand among American orchestras, including the American Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
McMillen plays music of all periods, and he also performs purely improvisatory music and jazz. His recordings, however, have focused on contemporary music. McMillen's recording catalog begins with the recital Soundings, issued on the Midnight Music label in 2004. The following year, he joined the faculty at Bard College; he also began teaching at the Mannes College of Music in New York in 2017. McMillen has been active at music festivals, both as an educator -- he has taught at the Elm City Chamber Festival, the Wellesley Composers Conference, the Samuel Barber Institute, among others -- and as an organizer, of the Rite of Summer Music Festival, on New York's Governors Island. McMillen has recorded for the Centaur, Bridge, and ECM labels, among others, issuing on the latter a recording of music by Bartók, Schnittke, and Lutoslawski with violinist Miranda Cuckson in 2016. McMillen was heard with percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the Albany Symphony on the 2021 album Strike Zones.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
15 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Béla Bartók / Alfred Schnittke / Witold Lutosławski
Miranda Cuckson, Blair McMillen
Classical - Released by ECM New Series on 15 Apr 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Joan Tower: Strike Zones, Small, Still/Rapids & Ivory and Ebony
Evelyn Glennie, Blair McMillen, Albany Symphony Orchestra, David Alan Miller
Classical - Released by Naxos on 23 Jul 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
An Exaltation of Larks
Lark Quartet, Gary Graffman, Todd Palmer, Blair McMillen
Chamber Music - Released by Bridge Records on 1 Feb 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Powerhouse Pianists II
Stephen Gosling, Blair McMillen
Classical - Released by American Modern Recordings on 31 Mar 2015
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
HERSCH, F.: Concert Music (2001-06)
Natasha Paremski, Blair McMillen, Gramercy Trio, Dorothy Lawson, Fred Hersch
Classical - Released by Naxos on 30 Oct 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tower: String Quartets Nos. 3-5 & Dumbarton Quintet
Daedalus Quartet, Miami String Quartet, Blair McMillen
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 1 Apr 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Powerhouse Pianists
Blair McMillen, Stephen Gosling
Classical - Released by American Modern Recordings on 1 Jun 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Soundings
Classical - Released by Midnight Productions on 1 Jan 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat Major, Op. 10 (Live)
American Symphony Orchestra, Blair McMillen
Classical - Released by American Symphony Orchestra on 1 Oct 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Skyscapes - Chamber Music of Brian Fennelly
Classical - Released by Albany Records on 1 Nov 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joy: Music for Violin & Piano
Chamber Music - Released by American Modern Recordings on 18 Nov 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Music for Cello and Piano from the 20th and 21st centuries
Robert Burkhart, Blair McMillen
Chamber Music - Released by Centaur Records, Inc. on 27 Oct 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jones, C.: New and Hisotrical Recordings - 5 Melodies / Piano Sonata No. 2 / Symphony No. 3 (1959, 1994, 2003)
Curtis Macomber, William Masselos, Gavleborg Symphony Orchestra, Blair McMillen, Michael Adelson
Chamber Music - Released by Albany on 1 May 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Michael Hersch: The Wreckage of Flowers
Miranda Cuckson, Blair McMillen
Classical - Released by New Focus Recordings on 17 Jun 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Clarinet Music - Bernstein, L. / Schickele / Martino, D. / Schocker / Mandat / Copland
Chamber Music - Released by Albany on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo