Fred Hersch is a solo pianist, composer, bandleader, and theatrical conceptualist. Hersch lives up to the praise of the New York Times, who, in a featured Sunday Magazine piece, aptly declared him, “singular among the trailblazers of their art, a largely unsung innovator.” With three-dozen recordings as a leader/co-leader, and numerous awards including a 2003 Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and five Grammy nominations, Hersch is among the most admired of contemporary jazz musicians. He was named Jazz Pianist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2011 and that year was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Alone at the Vanguard. He is also the first artist in the 75-year history of New York's legendary Village Vanguard to play week-long engagements there as a solo pianist. He has collaborated with an astonishing range of instrumentalists and vocalists throughout the worlds of jazz (Joe Henderson, Charlie Haden, Art Farmer, Stan Getz and Bill Frisell); classical (Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Christopher O'Riley); and Broadway (Audra McDonald). A noted activist, Hersch has produced and played on four benefit CDs for Classical Action/Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and has spoken/performed at several major international medical conferences. In 2011, he mounted “My Coma Dreams,” a critically-acclaimed full-evening multimedia work in collaboration with librettist/director Herschel Garfein.
