Pianist John Salmon has distinguished himself on four continents, as both a classical and jazz artist. His broad repertoire covers the classics—Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms—though his involvement with contemporary music is equally strong. Salmon has championed and been at the forefront of performing new works by such celebrated composers as Nikolai Kapustin and Lalo Schifrin. Salmon is particularly well-known for his association with Dave Brubeck, whose music he has recorded and edited in depth; Brubeck dedicated two piano pieces to Salmon, “The Salmon Strikes” and “Bach Again.” Salmon’s most recent recording, Salmon Is A Jumpin’ (Albany Records), called “strong and imaginative” (classicalmusicsentinel.com) and “jazz with a high degree of intelligence” (musicweb-international.com), features his own jazz compositions, with the added twist of overdubbing on every track.

John Salmon has been a member of the faculty of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro since 1989. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin; the Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School; the Solistendiplom from the Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg, Germany; and Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts (philosophy) degrees from Texas Christian University. His awards include the Premio Jaén (1979), the Gina Bachauer Award from Juilliard, a fellowship from the Beethoven Foundation (known nowadays as the American Pianists Association), and prizes from the 1979 University of Maryland (William Kapell Competition) and 1984 Busoni competitions. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1954.