Talon Smith
Internationally Acclaimed, Award-Winning Classical Pianist & Composer
"As a chamber musician, Mr. Smith’s playing was measured and assured, and unfailingly lyrical.
The second part of the program saw Mr. Smith playing works by Chopin (G-minor Ballade), Stravinsky (Op.7 Etudes) and Ravel’s fiendishly difficult Gaspard de la nuit. Once again, the young virtuoso placed his technical mastery at the service of poetry and the singing line. Vladimir Horowitz famously said “There is no shortage of pianists, only a shortage of composers.” In the new 24 Preludes by Talon Smith (Op.1) – an astonishing collection of pieces with varying styles and emotions – one had a renewed hope for the future of new music, music that speaks to the hearts of the common men and women, unencumbered by the demands of academia."
Exhibiting an innate, passionate musicality and brilliant technical mastery, twenty-year-old virtuoso pianist and composer Talon Smith has already won Gold at the Gina Bachauer International Junior Piano Competition. He was also a finalist at the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition of the United States and a Gramophone and Polish Radio favorite at the 18th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, where he was the youngest of the top three ranking US competitors.
Most recently, Talon became a “two thumbs up” Gramophone favorite winning their highest praises—they described Talon as a “master pianist with an old soul...lifting the music...into the opera house, as if there were a great orchestra in tow.” In addition, 24 Preludes, Op. 1 by Talon Smith was just published in January 2023. Laura Brodian, Announcer/Producer of KMozart Radio, wrote, Talon Smith’s “24 Preludes, Op. 1 are a stellar addition to the piano repertory. I foresee them as quickly being popular and becoming a must-study for serious students of piano and composition.”
Talon has performed many sold-out concerts as a soloist, chamber musician, and guest artist with various orchestras resulting in extremely enthusiastic audiences in America, Europe, and Asia.
Talon is a private student of Eduardus Halim and Piotr Paleczny. He has participated in numerous masterclasses and/or lessons with outstanding pianists, including Garrick Ohlsson, Dang Thai Son, Sergei Babayan, Natalia Trull, Jerome Lowenthal, Kevin Kenner, Ewa Pobłocka, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, Olga Kern, Alexander Korsantia, Awadagin Pratt, Simone Dinnerstein, John Rink, Margarita Shevchenko, Oxana Yablonskaya, William Grant Naboré, and Boris Slutsky.