Audrey Axinn

Pianist and fortepianist Audrey Axinn’s sensitive and compelling performances on fortepiano and modern piano have been hailed by the Washington Post and others as a “truly admirable” and “Axinn is an artist…her touch is magical and the fluidity of her playing exceptional.” A specialist in ornamenting the music of Mozart and Beethoven, Dr. Axinn is committed to deep exploration of the nuances of Classical and early-Romantic composers’ unique musical vocabularies. She has collaborated with luminary performers including Monica Huggett, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Eugene Fodor, Daniel Heifetz, Fred Sherry and Cynthia Roberts.

Dr. Axinn has enjoyed a long performing career on both modern Steinway-type pianos and historical pianos at venues including Carnegie Stern and Weill Concert Halls; Merkin Concert Hall; Caramoor; Bargemusic; the Phillips Collection; Dame Myra Hess series; Tianjin Grand Theater and the Shanghai Oriental Theater. Performances on fortepiano have included concert series and festivals at the 92nd Street Y, The Edinburgh Festival, The Boston Early Music Festival; Salon Sanctuary; Cappella de Turchini; Bargemusic and Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium.

Dr. Axinn has presented guest master classes or lectures on performance practice or collaborative piano throughout Asia at Beijing Central Conservatory; Shanghai Conservatory; China Conservatory; Hong Kong Academy of the Arts and multiple Taiwanese universities. In the West, she has guest taught at The Curtis Institute of Music, New England Conservatory; Oberlin Conservatory, Smith College, Cornell University and the Koninklijk Conservatorium.

Ms. Axinn earned Masters and D.M.A degrees from The Juilliard School studying with Margo Garrett, Samuel Sanders and Jonathan Feldman. She also earned degrees from The Curtis Institute of Music and Manhattan School of Music studying with Vladimir Sokoloff and Solomon Mikowsky. She won a Fulbright to study fortepiano with Stanly Hoogland at Sweelinck Conservatorium in The Netherlands and she has done extensive work with other teachers including Zitta Zohar and Malcolm Bilson.

Ms. Axinn is on the faculty of the College Division teaching chamber music and courses. She is current faculty at Mannes School of Music and also taught music history at Manhattan School of Music and collaborative piano at Tianjin Juilliard in China. Ms. Axinn is co-Director of the Academy of Fortepiano Performance, a summer workshop in upstate New York.

Dr. Axinn has served as Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs at the Tianjin Juilliard School as well as Assistant Dean at Mannes School of Music.