Richard Goode

Richard Goode has been hailed for music-making of tremendous emotional power, depth and expressiveness, and has been acknowledged worldwide as one of today’s leading interpreters of Classical and Romantic music. In regular performances with the major orchestras, recitals in the world’s music capitals, and through his extensive and acclaimed Nonesuch recordings, he has won a large and devoted following.

Gramophone magazine recently captured the essence of what makes Richard Goode such an original and compelling artist: ‘‘Every time we hear him, he impresses us as better than we remembered, surprising us, surpassing our expectations and communicating perceptions that stay in the mind.”

One of today’s most revered recitalists, Richard Goode is a favorite of audiences in Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, Houston, Portland and Chicago and numerous colleges and universities around the country. In Europe, appearances at Wigmore Hall, the Edinburgh Festival, Berlin, and throughout Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK are always highlights. His masterclasses, in person or online, continue to be hailed as truly memorable events.

In 2022-2023, thirty years after his historic complete Beethoven Sonata Cycle at the 92nd Street Y and his Grammy-nominated recording on Nonesuch Records, Richard Goode felt ready to tackle Beethoven’s daunting Diabelli Variations. His fascinating interpretation for a sold-out New York audience at the Y was also heard in his annual concerts at Wigmore Hall in London and for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, among many others. This season, it will be heard for such other regular Richard Goode presenters as Tippet Rise, in Detroit, Toronto and St. Paul, where he also will be heard in Mozart Concertos Nos. 18 and 23 with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. The 2023-24 season also included appearances at the Verbier Festival and the Oxford Piano Festival.

In recent seasons, Richard Goode appeared as soloist with Louis Langrée and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in a program filmed as part of a documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of the country’s most popular summer musical events. He also toured in the US with one of the world’s most admired orchestras and his recording partner, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer. Their recording of the five Beethoven piano concertos has won worldwide acclaim; Goode performed concertos No. 2 and No. 4 on the tour, which included performances at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Lincoln Center, and for the Chicago Symphony, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, and Celebrity Series of Boston. Other orchestral appearances include the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and in Europe with the London Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, and BBC Philharmonic.

Among other highlights of recent seasons have been the recitals in which, for the first time in his career, Mr. Goode performed the last three Beethoven sonatas in one program, drawing capacity audiences and raves in such cities as New York, London, and Berlin. The New York Times, in reviewing his Carnegie Hall performance, hailed his interpretations as “majestic, profound readings… Mr. Goode’s playing throughout was organic and inspired, the noble, introspective themes unfolding with a simplicity that rendered them all the more moving.” He was also heard as soloist with Andris Nelsons in his first season as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and at Carnegie Hall, where Goode was featured in two chamber music concerts with young artists from the Marlboro Music Festival, in a master class on Debussy and in a Main Hall recital. To mark the 25th anniversary in 2018-19 of the release of his historic recordings of the complete Beethoven sonatas, Nonesuch Records re-released the acclaimed recordings.

An exclusive Nonesuch recording artist, Goode has made more than two dozen recordings over the years, ranging from solo and chamber works to lieder and concertos. His recording of the five Beethoven concertos with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer was released in 2009 to exceptional critical acclaim, described as “a landmark recording” by the Financial Times and nominated for a Grammy award. His 10-CD set of the complete Beethoven sonatas cycle, the first-ever by an American-born pianist, was nominated for a Grammy and has been ranked among the most distinguished recordings of this repertoire. To mark the 25th anniversary in 2018-19 of the release of these historic recordings, Nonesuch Records re-released them to great acclaim. Other recording highlights include a series of Bach partitas, a duo recording with Dawn Upshaw, and Mozart piano concertos with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

A native of New York, Richard Goode studied with Elvira Szigeti and Claude Frank, with Nadia Reisenberg at the Mannes College of Music, and with Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute. His numerous prizes over the years include the Young Concert Artists Award, first prize in the Clara Haskil Competition, the Avery Fisher Prize, and a Grammy award for his recording of the Brahms sonatas with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. His first public performances of the complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas at Kansas City’s Folly Theater and New York’s 92Y in 1987-88 brought him to international attention being hailed by The New York Times as “among the season’s most important and memorable events.” It was later performed with great success at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1994 and 1995.

Mr. Goode served, together with Mitsuko Uchida, as co-artistic director of the Marlboro Music School and Festival in Marlboro in Vermont from 1999 through 2013. Participating initially at the age of 14, at what The New Yorker magazine recently described as “the classical world’s most coveted retreat,” he made a notable contribution to this unique community over the 28 summers he spent there. In fall 2021, Mr. Goode joined the Peabody Conservatory as Distinguished Artist Faculty. He is married to the violinist Marcia Weinfeld, and, when the Goodes are not on tour, they and their collection of some 5,000 volumes live in New York City.