Xak Bjerken, piano

Xak Bjerken has presented solo and chamber music recitals in Europe and throughout the United States, recently soloing with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Edinburgh and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Rome. He holds the position of Lecturer in Piano at Cornell University.

Mr. Bjerken performs this month in Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall and is currently preparing major works by Olivier Messiaen to be performed at the Messiaen Festival '96 in Ithaca, NY. He co-founded a piano trio, Mobius, which was in residence at the 1993 Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, and he has been invited back for solo appearances annually since then. Mr. Bjerken was a collaborative artist at the 1992 Ravinia Festival and has also attended the Aspen Music Festival and the Music Academy of the West.

Xak Bjerken studied towards his doctoral degree at the Peabody Conservatory where he was a student and teaching assistant of Leon Fleisher. He earned his baschelor's degree cum laude at UCLA, where his teacher was Aube Tzerko.

December 9, 1995