David Kaplan

David Kaplan is a New York-born piano soloist and chamber musician, praised by the Boston Globe for “grace and fire” at the keyboard. He has performed concerti at London’s Barbican, Berlin’s Philharmonie, and most recently with the Symphony Orchestras of Hawai’i and San Antonio. His recording of Valerie Coleman’s Revelry was nominated for a 2025 GRAMMY, and his 2024 solo début, New Dances of the League of David, was lauded by Financial Times, Gramophone, Fanfare, and more.David Kaplan is a New York-born piano soloist and chamber musician, praised by the Boston Globe for “grace and fire” at the keyboard. He has performed concerti at London’s Barbican, Berlin’s Philharmonie, and most recently with the Symphony Orchestras of Hawai’i and San Antonio. His recording of Valerie Coleman’s Revelry was nominated for a 2025 GRAMMY, and his 2024 solo début, New Dances of the League of David, was lauded by Financial Times, Gramophone, Fanfare, and more.

His recital programs artfully connecting new and old music have been praised for “striking imagination and creativity” by The New York Times, and have brought him to the Ravinia Festival, Washington’s National Gallery, and New York’s Carnegie and Merkin Halls. Kaplan is a passionate advocate for contemporary American composers – he has commissioned new works from Timo Andres, Christopher Cerrone, Anthony Cheung, Donnacha Dennehy, Caroline Shaw, Augusta Read Thomas, and many others.

Kaplan’s numerous collaborators include Tessa Lark, Colin Carr, and the Ariel, Attacca, Formosa, and Tesla String Quartets, as well as his father, violinist Mark Kaplan, with whom he releases a recording of the three Brahms Sonatas on Orchid Classics in 2026. He has performed at the La Jolla SummerFest, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and is a founding member of Decoda, the affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall. Kaplan is the Associate Professor and Inaugural Shapiro Family Chair in Piano Performance at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where he has taught since 2016. Away from the keyboard, he loves cartooning and cooking, and is mildly obsessed with classic cars.