To hear John Bell Young playing Scriabin,
click his picture (below). (Real Player)

John Bell Young, Acclaimed for his interpretations of the music of Alexander Scriabin JOHN BELL YOUNG has performed throughout Europe, America, Asia,. South America and the former Soviet Union. Winner of the 1985 Chopin Foundation Council Prize, he made his American recital debut at Washington's National Gallery of Art in 1976. The following year he made his debut on the concert series of Christchurch Spitalfields in London, the Koepelzaal in Amsterdam, and in 1983 at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. Sponsored by Volkswagen, he performed to a sold-out house at the prestigious Great Hall of the Forbidden City in Beijing in July 2001.

Endorsed by Scriabin's daughters Marina Scriabine and Yelena Scriabina Sofronitsky, he has toured Russia often, with appearances at the Riga Philharmonic (Latvia); the Scriabin Museum (Moscow); the Small Hall of the Glinka Capella (Osobnyak Bosse); the Bielosielski-Bielozyerski Palace and the Composers Union in St. Petersburg; and at the Sochi Philharmonic. Mr. Young's two recordings for the Newport Classics label, now with Sony Classical, of the musical compositions of the 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche earned widespread international acclaim, and were singled out by the Time, New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, American Record Guide, the Piano Quarterly and many other publications.

He is also the subject of a Dutch television documentary Sweet Summer Concert, where he is featured in recital at Amsterdam's historic Koepelzaal and aboard an open-air tour boat afloat that city's canals. It has been broadcast on on ITV-London, on TROS -TV, Holland and on Yugoslavian television. On radio, he has been a guest on National Public Radio's Performance Today and several times on David Dubal's nationally syndicated The Piano in Comparative Performance, which is devoted exclusively to the comparison of great pianists and historic recordings.

Mr. Young frequently adjudicates international piano competitions, including the European International Piano Competition and the Greta Erikson Nordic (Sweden); the RAMA (Boston); the Young Prince (Russia); the Boston Outstanding Amateur; the Russian Music Competition (San Jose); and the Premio Jaen (Spain). His master classes and lectures have taken him to Brown University, the Juilliard School, the Boston Conservatory, the Leningrad Conservatory and many other leading schools throughout the US, Europe and Russia.

He is also a prominent critic for several major publications, including the American Record Guide, Opera News, Clavier, Music and Vision (mvdaily.com), Classical DisCDigest, and the St Petersburg Times. He is a frequent annotator for Sony Classical and other labels. John Bell Young's recording of music by Scriabin, Mahler, Leo Tolstoy, Hugh Downs and Michel Block, entitled Prisms, was released on the Americus Records label in 2000. In the spring of 2003 Americus Records released Mr. Young's recording of Richard Strauss's rarely performed melodrama, Enoch Arden, for piano and narrator, in which Mr. Young collaborates with the distinguished actor, Michael York.

As a producer, John Bell Young is the CEO of Identity Marketing for Concert Artists, Inc., a consultant to concert artists as well as a production company. He has produced several recordings, most recently Strauss's Enoch Arden, with Michael York; Italian pianist Roberto Poli's critically acclaimed "Shall We Dance" (Americus); the debut album, entitled "How Fair This Place" featuring the acclaimed dramatic soprano, Joanna Porackova, and the distinguished Swedish pianist, Dag Achatz, also for the Americus label; the debut CD of the celebrated young American pianist, Andrew Russo; and. two recordings, on the Americus and Angelok labels, featuring pianist Marianna Rashkovetsky;

In the 2003-2004 season he performed at several prestigious venues, both in recital and on tour with Michael York, including the Royal Palace in Stockholm; at the Gerlesborgsskolan Arts Colony in Sweden; at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington; at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach; and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of its renowned concert series. REVIEWS "I was most impressed by John Bell Young's performance of Scriabin's 5th Sonata. He demonstrated great power, imagination and a rhythm full of life, all the elements indispensable for an interpreter of my father's music." Marina Scriabine, Paris 1983 "The valiant John Bell Young cultivates a suaveness of pedaling...He has at his command a touch vibrantly sensual, even seductive." -Pascal Brissaud, Le Monde de la Musique, Paris "Young's performances of Scriabin are that rare combination of spontaneity and discipline, intelligence and Dionysian abandon." -Faubion Bowers, author of Scriabin: A Biography of the Russian Composer "Reviewers have praised [John Bell Young and his] Nietzsche Music Project...for his interpretation of some baffling scores. Recordings offer plenty of surprises... Instead of the grandiose thundering associated with Nietzsche's philosophy, the music is personal in scale, intimate, even fragile, eerily prescient... " -Steve Coates, The Wall Street Journal "Suave...engaging...winningly boisterous, with some bold piano strokes that are undeniably dramatic. The disc offers 17 piano pieces, handsomely played by pianist John Bell Young, who researched the autograph scores and inaugurated the project... It should shed interesting light on the interaction among music, literature and philosophy." -Joshua Kosman, The San Francisco Chronicle "Two fine CDs from Newport Classic should introduce the music of Nietzsche to a wider audience. In Piano Music of Friedrich Nietzsche, Young is again the pianist, joined...by the excellent lyric tenor, John Aler for 16 songs. Charming...genuinely affecting. -Elliot Ravetz, Time "When I listen to Nietzsche's own modest compositions, so redolent of early romanticism, I am influenced by his philosophy to hear something else coming to an end: the assumption that a common language of tone and idea exists. We are Nietzsche's heirs…[John Bell Young] serves this music with taste." Edward Rothstein, the New York Times "A wonderful CD…it's great!" - CNN Headline News "John Bell Young is an American pianist who has established himself as a Scriabinist of international repute. His recital disc features striking readings of sonatas 5 and 7, plus a number of shorter works (Americus 1013). His reading of 7 is memorable; he plays it significantly more slowly than most, and it works; he obtains a ritual atmosphere entirely in keeping with the sonata's "White Mass" appellation. Sonata 5 is paced beautifully, and Young makes more of its contrasts than do many pianists; the slow passages are particularly ruminative. Throughout this disc you hear a musician who has reflected deeply on this music and has strong and original ideas about how it should be performed. Young's disc also contains some non-Scriabin works, including his own lovely transcription of Mahler's Adagietto from Symphony 5, played with melting pathos." -David McIntire, Classical Music: Third Ear -- The Essential Listening Companion (Backbeat Books) "Young's playing was brilliant….Already in the short, almost hurricane like program before the intermission - with texts by Whitman and John Masefield to the music by Skrjabin and Wagner was it clear that this should be an evening where elemental force was wedded to the most sensual intimacy." -Martin Nystrom, Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm (from a review of Enoch Arden with Michael York) "A very convincing interpreter..truly a wonderful performance!" Maria Girardi, Nuova Rivista Italiana, Rome "A performer in the grand old Russian romantic tradition, …{Young] is also a pianist of considerable substance, …he created an almost orchestral effect in Liszt's dazzling Ballade in B minor. His Scriabin selection included a remarkable performance of the Nocturne for the Left Hand in which he created a surprising level of volume and fluency with half the usual allotment of fingers. Then there was a spellbinding exotic Poeme, Op. 32 no. 1." -John Fleming, The St. Petersburg Times "The audience enthusiastically greeted the young American's performance, so full of energy, radiance and good will... The performance was not only brilliant, but amazing." -Boris Mazo, Chaspik, St.Petersburg, Russia "John Bell Young's new CD, Prisms, treats its listeners to ten pieces by the idiosyncratic Scriabin, as well as several new works. The Two Poemes Op. 32 and the Sonata # 5 especially showcase Scriabin and Young at their best.. The close-miked Steinway captures the music with exciting clarity. Most riveting …is Young's performance of his Mahler transcription. To keep this ravishingly beautiful work cooking with the same intensity and drive as the original orchestration is a tribute to a most insightful pianist. This CD has truly lived up to its name, offering a recital filled with colorful works performed with great keyboard savvy. -Jim Edwards, Clavier "John Bell Young is a tough critic. Writing for Opera News and American Record Guide, he is quick to deflate performers, even very skilled ones, who simply go through the motions, who fail to search within themselves for personal understanding of the music. The classical music world is full of such indifferent musicians and thei cynical promoters, he often says, and to hell with the lot of them. But Young is a performer himself a competition-winning pianist with a number of recordings to his credit and this new one, Prisms, just released. So how will he fare when we apply his own lofty standards to his work? Just fine, as it turns out. Young's playing here is thoughtful and sensitive, especially in the works of his favorite composer and musical inspiration, Alexander Scriabin….Another treat comes with Young's own transcription of the haunting Adagietto from Mahler's Symphony No. 5, a gorgeous, sumptuous melody Mahler supposedly wrote with future wife Alma Schindler …to Young's credit he makes the experience work with the piano….Grade: A" --David Ballingrud, The St. Petersburg Times "My wife and I listened to you with the greatest pleasure. One feels that Liszt is near to your heart, and that you understand his style. We are both looking forward to seeing you soon." Ernst Levy, pianist, Switzerland, 1973 "In this brave new world of pianistic obligatory democracy made of verifiably good (if not great) and accomplished (if not perfect) players, JOHN BELL YOUNG stands out as one of the unsung heroes of the end of this epoch. He is at once a pianist endowed with the rare gift of musical story-telling, a charmer with a rare understanding of the beauty and power of harmony, and a performer full of savoir-faire, genuine temperament and true love for his instrument" Michel Block, pianist, recording artist, EMI, ProPiano "John Bell Young is both an expressive musician and a fine technician. He impresses his public by playing with beauty of tone, an assured manner and a sweeping rhythm as he progresses smoothly through a very demanding program…a recitalist of first caliber." -Abram Chasins, pianist, composer, author of Speaking of Pianists & The Van Cliburn Legend "It is my pleasure to recommend to you pianist John Bell Young. I knew him for several years as a very sensitive and completely dedicated musician who has delved into some previously unexplored areas of music and tackled roads less traveled. His knowledge of music is extensive. He was endorsed by the Scriabin family and in general has an affinity with the Russian repertoire. He is also very well versed in the Baroque style. Any association with John Bell Young will be highly rewarding." - Vladimir Feltsman, pianist, recording artist "Let me say at once that I find your playing extremely accomplished and sensitive ... superb playing. ... Altogether, I think it is a wonderful achievement that you have recorded these works." - Sir Charles Mackerras "The finest to date have been the two discs by John Bell Young on Newport. These are superbly and sympathetically played. These recordings of Nietzsche`s music is very welcome... For collectors of musical esoterica... this is an invaluable issue. The finest to date have been the two discs by John Bell Young on Newport. These are superbly and sympathetically played... I understand that Sony has bought them. Sony should quickly reissue them... Carl Bauman, The American Record Guide. "Here is one of the more peculiar rarities in the Strauss corpus, a sprawling accompaniment to Alfred Lord Tennyson's melodrama about a young man, presumably lost at sea, who returns home many years later to find his wife remarried to his childhood friend…Remarkably, two small labels are competing with new recordings of 'Enoch Arden' at the same time, each with differing approaches…York's intimate, conversational telling of the tale works far better on a recording …and Young's playing is freer in manner. " -Richard S. Ginell, Los Angeles Times "It is clear from the detail included in this production that it was a labor of love. Pianist John Bell Young was eager to record both the poem and the music Richard Strauss wrote specifically for it. He brought British actor Michael York on board and the two wrote essays for liner notes that nearly amount to a book. The entire poem is also included, as well as biographies of all involved and the history of the poem… if you are not acquainted with the story, with its contradictions and bitter ironies, then this passionate and quite beautiful production makes for the perfect introduction. York displays the crisp diction and precise pacing that keep him frequently employed as an audio book narrator. He approaches the material with the appropriate degree of warmth and vigor, but does so with great finesse, matching the spirit of the material without overstating the obvious. Strauss's music, as presented by Young, is vital and undeniably dramatic." -Rochelle O'Gorman, The Boston Globe "Enoch Arden is seldom performed, and the few recordings include one by pianists Glenn Gould with Claude Rains as narrator…English actor Michael York and American pianist John Bell Young have just recorded it in an expressive rendition that matches the dynamic contours of the music…York conveys an array of vocal colors with clarity and dramatic energy. Young captures the changing moods with rhythmic momentum and subtle changes as the text progresses. The chemistry between York and Young can be heard in the pensive opening measures, and it continues throughout…As the music and poetry climax in the Prelude and Allegro agitato sections of part two, the piano intensity is beautifully balanced with the narrative. The charisma, attention to detail, and intimacy of this disc make it something to share with friends." Leonne Lewis, Clavier Magazine 'My goodness, it is a wonderful performance...It brought tears to my eyes..." - Stephen Hough, pianist, recording artist "Gripping! Michael York's narration and voices in dialect are top-drawer artistry and bring the drama and environment, and the ambience of the Victorian era into such a realm that one is completely absorbed--transported back to that time, to live the experiences of the characters. John Bell Young's playing is sensitive and powerful... I have found it one of the most moving audio experiences I've encountered. The production is a gem." -Hugh Downs Available from: www.americuscd.com The Nietzsche recordings are again available at: www.berkshirerecordoutlet.com

Philip Jackson is the sculptor of the works pictured on the covers of Prisms.
Front panel: "Serenissima"    Rear panel: "The Sentinels"
Cover design: KREA, Milan. (www.krea.it)

He is a critic for the American Record Guide, Opera News, Clavier, Babel and Classical DisCDigest, and a frequent annotator for Sony Classical.

Mr. Young's recording of Richard Strauss's rarely performed melodrama Enoch Arden, for piano and narrator, was released by Amercus Records in 2002. He is joined in this work by the distinguished actor, Michael York. To order, please visit www.johnbellyoung.org.
"My goodness, it is a wonderful performance! I had tears in my eyes listening..." (Stephen Hough, pianist).
For articles and information on the making of Enoch Arden with Michael York and John Bell Young, please see the following:

• http://www.mvdaily.com
• http://www.sptimes.com
• www.michaelyork.net

"Let me say at once that I find your playing extremely accomplished and sensitive ... superb playing. ... Altogether, I think it is a wonderful achievement that you have recorded these works."
Sir Charles Mackerras

"The audience enthusiastically greeted the young American's performance, so full of energy, radiance and good will... The performance was not only brilliant, but amazing."
Boris Mazo, Chaspik, St.Petersburg, Russia

Click on the images to see full-sized illustrations.

John Bell Young with Marina Scriabine

John Bell Young with Hugh Downs

John Bell Young with Sir Charles Mackerras and Johanna Porackova

For a more complete biography, see Full biography

AUDIO AND VIDEO SAMPLES