The Barnett Center is excited to welcome Mr. Dan Tepfer, our next guest in the A Life in the Arts Series!

Dan Tepfer, born in Paris to American parents and based in New York City, is “a pianist of extraordinary technique and fearless harmonic sensibility” (JazzTimes). He has performed globally with leading figures across jazz and classical music, from Lee Konitz to Renée Fleming, and he has released more than a dozen albums as leader in solo, duo and trio formats. While The New York Times has recognized Tepfer as a “deeply rational improviser drawn to the unknown,” he also works as a composer for the concert hall, with his pieces including the piano quintet Solar Spiral, orchestral suite Algorithmic Transform, and Three Poems of Virginie Sampeur, a song cycle for jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant with string orchestra.

Tepfer earned international recognition with his 2011 release Goldberg Variations / Variations, which featured him performing J.S. Bach’s masterpiece as well as improvising on it, to “elegant, thoughtful and thrilling” effect (New York magazine). In 2019, he revisited his undergraduate studies in astrophysics with the video album Natural Machines, where he explored in real time the intersection of digital algorithms and the rhythms of the heart; he performed music from Natural Machines in a widely seen NPR Tiny Desk concert. Tepfer also co-created the app FarPlay, which enables users to play music with others over the internet as if they were in the same room. 

Accolades for Tepfer include first prizes at the Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition and American Piano Awards, as well as fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, MacDowell Colony and Fondation BNP-Paribas. In 2023, he returned to Bach with the album Inventions / Reinventions, which topped the Billboard Classical Charts and spurred The New York Times International Editionto declare that it’s “hard not to be swept away by Tepfer’s vision and compelling realizations.” In November 2025, the pianist made his Carnegie Hall debut as a leader, with orchestra, in Natural Machines 2.0.

Mr. Tepfer will be our next guest in the A Life in the Arts series. Join us for conversation with him in the Barnett Center Collaboratory on Monday, November 16th from 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM. Lunch will be provided those who RSVP for the event by Monday, November 9th. We hope to see you at this event!

Please direct any questions to barnettcenter@osu.edu.