Biography

Pianist Einav Yarden is praised for her “imagination and exceptionally vivid playing…sense of immense majesty, tempered by gentleness and quiet grace” (The Washington Post, USA), and “glistening rapture…ingenious humor” (Tagesspiegel, Germany). She has been regularly presented in recital and as a chamber musician at important venues around the world and as soloist with orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (and the Rundfunkchor Berlin), Minnesota Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Bradenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Bucharest Philharmonic, and Jerusalem Symphony, under conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Leon Botstein, Frédéric Chaslin, Mendi Rodan, Stefan Blunier, Simon Halsey, among others.

Her engagements over the past seasons include solo performances at the 92nd Street Y and Merkin Hall, both in NYC, Festival International Piano aux Jacobins, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Salle Cortot in Paris, Nikolaisaal in Potsdam, and a solo performance at the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth, subbing in for the international star Daniil Trifonov with just a few hours’ notice, and leaving the audience “deeply overjoyed and impressed” (Piano News, Germany). Other noteworthy stages on which she has performed include the Berlin Philharmonie and the Philharmonie Chamber Music Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Merkin Hall in NYC, the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Schumannsaal in Düsseldorf, Musée d’Orsay Auditorium in Paris, and others.

The recent release of Einav Yarden's fourth solo CD for Challenge Classics, titled 'Father and Son', received numerous hailing reviews from important magazines, was selected as 'Album of the Week' on Radio Berlin Brandenburg (RBB) and was nominated for the prestigious Yearly-Prize of the German Record Critics' Award. Her previous albums received highly enthusiastic acclaim on leading international magazines as Gramophone, Fono Forum, Diapason, Piano News Magazine, Fanfare Magazine, Luister Magazine, International Piano Magazine, Amadeus Magazine and many others. Her Haydn Sonatas CD was awarded the prestigious German Records Critics’ Prize (Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik - Bestenliste).

Enthusiastic about teaching, starting in October 2024 Einav Yarden will hold the position of Vertretungsprofessur (substitute professor) for piano at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar - Weimar's Music University. In addition, she is currently teaching piano majors at the Trossingen University of Music in Germany. Her past teaching activities include having taught piano majors at the Frankfurt University for Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK Frankfurt) and at the Music Conservatory of Lucerne University, as well as teaching chamber music between 2016-18 at the University for Music Freiburg (Hochschule für Musik Freiburg). Between the summers of 2012 and 2017, she was a Collaborative Pianist at Ravinia Festival’s esteemed Steans Music Institute. Among her competition awards are top prizes at the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Bonn, the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition, Canada’s Esther Honens International Piano Competition, as well as top prizes at the Aviv Competitions in Israel, where she was awarded the piano Guralnik Prize and the prize for best performance of contemporary Israeli work. She serves on the Jury of international piano competitions, such as the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition Weimar-Bayreuth and the YPF European Piano Competition in Amsterdam.

A passionate chamber musician, she devotes herself regularly to collaborations with other musicians and enthusiastically incorporates unique repertoire into her programs. Major festival appearances include the Ruhr Piano Festival (Germany), La Roque d’Anthéron International Piano Festival, Festival International Piano aux Jacobins (France), Ravinia Festival (USA), Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Menton Festival, and Flâneries Musicales de Reims Festival (France), Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, and Upper-Galilee Chamber Music Festival (Israel), and others.

She was a longtime student of the legendary pianist Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory (Johns Hopkins University) in Baltimore, earning a Master of Music with high honors and a Graduate Performance Diploma. Prior to this, she received a Bachelor of Music with high honors from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University under the instruction of Prof. Emanuel Krasovsky. She has also received piano guidance from Richard Goode, Elisso Virsaladze, and Prof. Zvi Meniker (on historical fortepianos). She is based in Berlin, Germany.