Swann, Jeffrey

Swann, Jeffrey, American pianist; b. Williams, Ariz., Nov. 24, 1951. He was a student of Alexander Uninsky in Dallas (1963-69) before completing his studies at the Juilliard School in N.Y. with Beveridge Webster (B.M., 1972; M.M., 1973) and Adele Marcus (D.M.A., 1980). In 1965 he made his debut as a soloist with the Dallas Sym. Orch. under Donald Johanos’s direction. He appeared as a soloist with the Warsaw Phil. conducted by Witold Rowicki in 1971. In 1975 he made his recital debut at Hunter Coll. of the City Univ. of N.Y., and subsequently gave recitals in various U.S. cities and appeared as a soloist with leading orchs. of the country. Following his debut as a soloist with the orch. of La Scala in Milan under Hubert Soudant’s direction in 1975, he returned to La Scala in 1976 as a recitalist. In 1981 he made his Paris recital debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, followed in 1982 by debut recitals at the Tonhalle in Zürich and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He made his debut as a soloist with the Philharmonia Orch. of London under the direction of Jacek Kaspszyk in 1986, and then returned to London in 1987 to make his recital debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. He subsequently gave recitals and appeared as a soloist with orchs. in Europe while continuing his active career in the U.S. Swann has particularly distinguished himself as an interpreter of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and Bartók.—

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire