“I have trouble articulating the difference between Nissman and other pianists. She seems willing to go over the cliff, hand in hand with the composer.” classical.net

Barbara Nissman connects— not only with the music and its composer, but she connects the composer to the listener, touching souls in the process. She makes music relevant. Hailed as “one of the last pianists in the grand Romantic tradition of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Rubinstein,” Nissman continues the grand bravura tradition of romantic pianism. 

Barbara Nissman’s international career was personally launched by Eugene Ormandy who had previously engaged her as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has performed with the leading orchestras of Europe and America and has worked with some of the major conductors of our time including Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and Leonard Slatkin.

Her recordings of Prokofiev, Bartók and Ginastera are considered “definitive” and she has garnered praise for her series of recordings of nineteenth-century composers: Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms and also Rachmaninoff. Recognized as an authority on the music of Franz Liszt, her 2 DVD set, Franz Liszt: Portrait of the Man & his Masterwork- The Sonata in B minor with Michael York as the voice of Liszt and a stellar cast of his contemporaries has recently been released. All these recordings are now available on Nissman’s new label, Three Oranges Recordings. (http://threeorangesrecordings.com )

Ms. Nissman has long been associated with the music of Argentine composer, Alberto Ginastera, and is the dedicatee of the composer’s final work, the Sonata No. 3. Recently she was invited by the BBC to co-host a five-part radio series featuring Ginastera as composer-of-the-week on Radio 3. Her recording of all three piano concertos features the first recording of his Concierto Argentino as well as the first recording of the original score of his Piano Concerto No. 2.  She is the editor of the critical edition of Concerto No. 2 published by Boosey & Hawkes and is currently editing their complete collection of solo piano music.  A film and masterclass about the composer, Alberto Ginastera: A Man of Latin America has just been released.

Nissman made history in 1989 by becoming the first pianist to perform the complete piano sonatas of Sergei Prokofiev in a series of three recitals in both New York and London. Her recordings of this repertoire represented the first complete set of Prokofiev Sonatas made available on compact disc. BBC Music Magazine in their recent cover story on Prokofiev recommended Nissman’s recordings as “the best recordings of Prokofiev’s piano music.” A recording devoted to the music of Béla Bartók features the first performance of his unpublished 1898 Sonata. Scarecrow Press has published Ms. Nissman’s book, Bartók and the Piano: A Performer’s View, which includes a CD insert of Bartók’s music performed by the author.

Barbara Nissman recently appeared on stage with Don Henley of the Eagles and Billy Joel, performing on the “Walden Steinway” in a gala fundraiser for the Walden Woods project, held at Jazz at Lincoln Center. She was also one of the participants with Leonard Slatkin at the Kennedy Center’s 25th Anniversary Gala Concert that was broadcast on PBS Television. From 2002-2011 she was involved with the Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation benefit concert series, “A Concerted Effort.” These concerts raised well over two million dollars for AIDS service organizations worldwide. 

Ms. Nissman has successfully taken music from the confines of the concert-hall and has brought it directly to the people, performing in a variety of venues for all kinds of audiences: school children, university students, factory workers, prisoners, hospital patients, on Indian reservations, and even on a barge in the middle of a canal in Amsterdam. Her ability to talk about her composer “friends” led BBC Television to film a 16-week musical series with Barbara.  Deere & Co., the farm equipment manufacturer, was inspired to create a successful concert-lecture series with Barbara and their factory workers— the first of its kind in America and then hired her as their first artist-in-residence to serve their community and tour their facilities world-wide. 

Recently Barbara returned to Amsterdam and appeared before a live audience of 10-12,000 and a television audience of 1.2 million to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Prinsengracht concerts that she helped initiate in 1982.  These concerts have remained a popular summer tradition with audiences arriving on foot or in their boats to listen. 

Performer, writer, lecturer, producer, film-maker and frequent guest artist/clinician, Barbara Nissman has toured and given master classes throughout the United States, Europe, the Far East, New Zealand, and South America. At the invitation of both the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories, she presented recitals and master classes on Prokofiev. 

Barbara Nissman received her doctorate in music from the University of Michigan. Born and raised in Philadelphia, she now calls West Virginia home and lives on a farm in Greenbrier County. In 2008, she was the recipient of the Governor’s Arts Award from the State of West Virginia, and in 2016 was honored by the State for her artistic contributions. In 2020 she received the Governor’s Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. In June 2023, she was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. West Virginia University awarded Barbara an Honorary Doctorate in Music in May 2024.

The Three Oranges Foundation (www.threeorangesfoundation.org)  has recently been established to continue Nissman’s innovative educational projects. 

For more information: www.barbaranissman.com