Artist Profile: Jonathan Biss on Performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the BSO

“Getting to have that back and forth, give and take, with such exceedingly fine musicians — this is really a beautiful thing,” Jonathan Biss said about his upcoming performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The world-renowned pianist will take the stage with the BSO from Oct. 17 to 19, performing Schumann’s “Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54.” Described by The Boston Globe as “an eloquent and insightful music writer” and by The New Yorker as displaying “impeccable taste and a formidable technique,” Biss continues to captivate audiences all around the world.

Biss’s journey with music began with his musically oriented family. Influenced by his older brother, who studied piano, Biss decided to take up the instrument himself at the age of six.

“My life was surrounded by music from the time I was born,” Biss said in an interview with The Crimson. “People were practicing at any corner of the house at all times.”

Later, he studied with the legendary Leon Fleischer for four years.

“Everything about him had this terrific intensity, and he was also a person of unbelievable integrity,” Biss said.

From Fleischer, Biss adopted that integrity as a guiding principle in his own approach to music and performance. In terms of other musical influences, Biss found inspiration in composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann.

In 2011, Jonathan Biss started recording the Beethoven piano sonatas. He found that both writing and teaching about the Beethoven piano sonatas helped clarify his own ideas about the music he played. Moreover, his online Coursera course about the sonatas attracted over 100,000 students from 150 countries, further broadening his impact as both a musician and a music educator.

Biss spoke highly of the BSO, with whom he will perform with this month.

“Orchestras of that caliber are rare. It’s a great orchestra that I, by now, have a 20-year history with, and playing with them also means playing in one of the most beautiful places to play in the whole world,” Biss said.

Although he has worked with the BSO for almost two decades now, he still recalls his first time playing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as one of his most memorable experiences.

“You can have incredible trust when you play with an orchestra like that,” he said, reflecting on his long partnership with the BSO.

In the world of classical music, concerts are typically planned far in advance — months or even several years ahead. However, Biss’s first performance with the BSO was on very short notice — he got the call on Tuesday and was set to perform on Thursday of the same week.

“It was obviously scary, but there was an incredible excitement about the fact that I woke up on Monday morning thinking I was going to be home that week, and then on Tuesday afternoon, I was on a plane to Boston for my debut with this symphony,” Biss said.

Luckily for his audience this October, Biss’s performance of the Schumann Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was planned plenty in advance.

“The Schumann Concerto is a piece that I adore,” Biss said. “Above all, it’s a poetic piece.”

The piece features the piano, but its music is closely interwoven into the orchestra — the piano is in dialogue with the oboe, followed by the clarinet, and finally the strings.

“The beauty in it comes not just from what [Schumann] says, but in the detail of how he says it — the turn of phrase, the way in which a line curves against the grain and then back towards it. That is really part of what makes his music so magical,” Biss said.

Biss has been playing this piece for around 20 years. However, he said that what is important to him when he plays a piece that is already part of his repertoire is that he comes back to it as if it is brand new every time.

“I think one of the most important things that a performer can do is give the impression to the listener that you are experiencing it in real time, rather than regurgitating something which has been done before and completely set in place in advance,” he said.

In a career marked by dedication and passion, Jonathan Biss’s commitment to sharing music remains unwavering. As he prepares to join the BSO for yet another memorable performance, Biss will approach each piece, no matter how well he knows it, with a sense of discovery — offering audiences the chance to experience the magic of his music anew.