Julius Drake

Pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists.
He appears regularly at the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Munich, Schubertiade and Salzburg Festivals, at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Théâtre du Châtelet and the Louvre in Paris, La Scala, Milan, the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Wigmore Hall and the BBC Proms.

His annual series of song recitals in Middle Temple Hall in London has featured recitals with many outstanding artists such as Thomas Allen, Olaf Bär, Ian Bostridge, Angelika Kirchschlager, Iestyn Davies, Véronique Gens, Sergei Leiferkus, Felicity Lott, Simon Keenlyside, Christopher Maltman, Mark Padmore, Christoph Prégardien, Amanda Roocroft and Willard White.

He was director of the Perth International Chamber Music Festival in Australia from 2000 to 2003 and has been artistic director of the Machynlleth Festival in Wales since 2009. He holds a professorship at the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Graz and is professor of collaborative piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He is also regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide.

Julius Drake’s song and chamber music recordings include a widely acclaimed series with Gerald Finley for Hyperion and award-winning recordings with Ian Bostridge for EMI, as well as several recitals for the Wigmore Hall Live label. His most recent CDs include Janáček’s The Diary of One who Disappeared with Scottish tenor Nicky Spence, which won both a Gramophone Award and a BBC Music Magazine Award in 2020, Paradise Lost with Anna Prohaska and Volume Six of the Liszt Complete Songs with Julia Kleiter.

Future plans include recitals in Barcelona with Sarah Connolly and Julia Kleiter, at the Edinburgh Festival with Gerald Finley, at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg with Christoph Prégardien and Ian Bostridge, at the Konzerthaus in Vienna with Anna Prohaska, at Wigmore Hall with Catriona Morison and at La Monnaie in Brussels with Eva-Maria Westbroek, as well as US tours with Angelika Kirchschlager and Gerald Finley.