Roman Rabinovich & Orion Weiss, Piano

One of the most sought-after soloists and chamber music collaborators today, Orion Weiss is a “brilliant pianist” (The New York Times) with “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post). He has dazzled audiences worldwide with his “head-spinning range of colors” (Chicago Tribune) and has performed with all of the major orchestras of North America and at all of the major venues and music festivals. 

In February 2025, Weiss released Arc III, the final album in his recital trilogy on First Hand Records. Recent performances include cycles of Beethoven’s complete violin sonatas with violinist James Ehnes; a return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, led by Michael Tilson Thomas; his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra, led by Ken-David Masur; and performances in Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Seattle. Additional highlights include Weiss’s David Geffen Hall debut in New York with the American Symphony Orchestra, performances of the Goldberg Variations at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Newport Classical, performances in Italy, London, and Norway, and a tour with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. His recording with Augustin Hadelich won Opus Klassik’s Best Chamber Music Recording of 2025.

Known for his affinity for chamber music, Weiss performs at venues and festivals around the United States with artists such as violinists James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, and William Hagen; pianists Michael Stephen Brown and Shai Wosner; and many string quartets, including the Ariel, Parker, and Pacifica Quartets.

A native of Ohio, Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and made his Cleveland Orchestra debut performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1999. That same year, with less than 24 hours notice, Weiss stepped in to replace André Watts for a performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Weiss’s awards include the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year, Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and more. His teachers include Paul Schenly, Jerome Lowenthal, and Sergei Babayan. In 2004, he graduated from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax. Learn more: www.orionweiss.com.

Praised by The New York Times for his “uncommon sensitivity and feeling,” pianist Roman Rabinovich is known for weaving intellect, curiosity, and spontaneity into performances that are as thought-provoking as they are emotionally resonant. Winner of the 2008 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, his subsequent career has led him to perform throughout Europe and the USA in venues such as including Gewandhaus, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Cité de la Musique and Wigmore Hall, where he gave three solo recitals in the 2024–25 season.

Dubbed “a true polymath, in the Renaissance sense of the word” (Seen & Heard International), Rabinovich is also a composer and visual artist. He has garnered acclaim for concerto performances across the centuries, from Bach to Lutosławski, collaborating with leading orchestras worldwide, including the Israel Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Prague Symphony, KBS Symphony, and all major Israeli orchestras. In North America, he has appeared with the Seattle Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, and Edmonton Symphony. He has worked with conductors including Sir Roger Norrington, Zubin Mehta, Ludovic Morlot, Kristjan Järvi, Michael Stern, Christoph Koenig, Gerard Schwarz, JoAnn Falletta, James Judd, and Joseph Swensen.

2026-27 season include concerto performances with Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Jacksonville Symphony, Sheboygan Symphony, Mississauga Symphony, Harmonium of Texas and Idaho Falls Symphony.

His recital repertoire spans six centuries, from Byrd to Boulez, with a recent focus on Bach’s Goldberg Variations, accompanied by a 32-episode social media series exploring the work. His recital for Mezzo was televised to 39 countries, reaching millions of viewers and recent recital appearances include Washington Performing Arts, 92nd Street Y, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Shriver Hall, Lincoln Center, Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, Vancouver Recital Society, Gilmore Keyboard Festival’s Rising Stars Series, the Phillips Collection and Portland Piano International. In the 2027–28 season, Rabinovich will embark on a complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, with full cycles in the U.S., Canada, and Israel.

An avid chamber musician, Rabinovich has collaborated with the Dover, Modigliani, and Escher Quartets, as well as Steven Isserlis, Benjamin Beilman, Camille Thomas and Fleur Barron. He has appeared at major festivals including Marlboro, La Jolla SummerFest, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Lucerne, Davos, Prague Spring, Dvorak Prague and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

A passionate advocate for Haydn, Rabinovich has performed full sonata cycles at the Lammermuir and Bath Festivals and curated a Haydn Day at Wigmore Hall. His two acclaimed recordings on First Hand Records reveal a pianist of elegance, wit, and expressive insight.
Born in Tashkent and raised in Israel, he debuted with the Israel Philharmonic at age 10. A Curtis and Juilliard graduate, he was chosen by Sir András Schiff for his Building Bridges series and now co-directs ChamberFest Cleveland and ChamberFest West.