Sunday, February 4 | 3:00 PM
Dan Tepfer’s
Natural Machines
Live Arts
“One of the moment’s most adventurous and relevant musicians.”
—New York Magazine
One of his generation’s extraordinary talents, Dan Tepfer has earned an international reputation as a pianist-composer of wide-ranging innovation, individuality, and drive—one “who refuses to set himself limits” (France’s Télérama). The New York City-based Tepfer, born in 1982 in Paris to American parents, has recorded and performed around the world with some of the leading lights in jazz and classical music, from Lee Konitz to Renée Fleming, and released eleven albums of his own in solo, duo and trio formats.
Join us for a special Curator-lead Guinness Gallery demonstration at 2 PM in the Guinness entry gallery, highlighted by performances of our 1925 Knabe Baby Grand Reproducing Piano, by the hands of 20’s jazz icons like: Jelly Roll Morton, Henry Lange, Zez Confrey & more.
Leadership Support for this Concert was generously provided by Will and Mary Leland.
This concert is a co-presentation with our partners at Music in the Somerset Hills.
About Dan Tepfer
Tepfer earned global acclaim for his 2011 release Goldberg Variations / Variations, a disc that sees him performing J.S. Bach’s masterpiece as well as improvising upon it—to “elegant, thoughtful and thrilling” effect (New York magazine). Tepfer’s 2019 video album Natural Machines stands as one of his most ingeniously forward-minded yet, finding him exploring in real time the intersection between science and art, coding and improvisation, digital algorithms and the rhythms of the heart. The New York Times has called him “a deeply rational improviser drawn to the unknown.” His 2023 return to Bach, Inventions / Reinventions, an exploration of the narrative processes behind Bach’s beloved Inventions, became a best-seller, spending two weeks in the #1 spot on the Billboard Classical Charts.
He has received commissions from the Prague Castle Guard Orchestra for two works: the suite Algorithmic Transform (2015) and a concerto for symphonic wind band and improvising piano, The View from Orohena (2010). In summer 2019, Tepfer unveiled his jazz-trio arrangement of Stravinsky’s Baroque-channeling Pulcinella. In 2024-2025, he’ll premiere three new major commissions: a suite for choir and piano in memory of his mother, a chorister at the Paris Opera; a song cycle for jazz great Cécile McLorin Salvant and string orchestra; and a symphonic work featuring algorithms and visuals.
Tepfer’s honors include first prizes at the 2006 Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition, the 2006 East Coast Jazz Festival Competition, and the 2007 American Pianists Association Jazz Piano Competition, as well as fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2014), the MacDowell Colony (2016), and the Fondation BNP-Paribas (2018, 2021 & 2024).
Ticket & Visitor Information
The Morris Museum has adopted a dynamic mask policy for upcoming events in the Bickford Theatre. Face masks are currently optional in the CENTER and HOUSE RIGHT sections (indicated in blue) and are required in the HOUSE LEFT section (indicated in red). This policy is subject to change at any time. Please check back on our website or call the box office for our current policy before your scheduled performance date. For assistance, call the box office at 973-971-3706.
Photo by Paolo Pavan.
