Held every two years, the American Piano Awards nurture the best young American jazz and classical pianists. Park ICM Alum, Michael Davidman, was named the new classical champion Saturday night after the culmination of the multistage Indianapolis-based national competition in which five finalists vie for the top spot. Davidman will add Saturday night’s victory to a long list of accomplishments, including third prize at the 2022 Long-Thibaud International Piano Competition and first prize in the 2018 New York International Piano Competition chamber ensemble. Congratulations Michael!
APA winners receive career support valued at more than $200,000 over two years, making it the largest award in the world available to pianists. The award prize includes career management, publicity, an artist residency at the University of Indianapolis, a recording contract with the Steinway record label and a recital tour.
Read Also: Michael Davidman returns for another shot at the top APA Classical prize
Michael Davidman wins 2025 American Piano Awards in Indianapolis
Photo credit: Mark Sheldon
Photo credit: Mark Sheldon
Biography
Michael started piano lessons at age five at the Greenwich House Music School, and continued piano studies with Efrem Briskin at the Manhattan School of Music. Michael completed his Bachelor of Music degree under the guidance of Robert McDonald, also with mentor and teacher Ford Mylius Lallerstedt at the Curtis Institute of Music, and his Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School with renowned pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Stephen Hough. Presently, Michael is pursuing an Artist Diploma studying with renowned pianist Stanislav Loudenich at the International Center for Music (ICM), Kansas City, MO.
Prodigiously gifted from early childhood, in his precollege studies at the Manhattan School of Music, Michael won First Place in the Precollege Concerto Competition in all three age categories: first at age ten, then at twelve, and again at age sixteen. At age thirteen, he was chosen by Lang Lang’s management to perform in the 2010 Lang Lang masterclass at Manhattan School of Music; his rendition of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 10 was warmly praised by Lang Lang: “You play beautifully and are technically brilliant!”
A dedicated and disciplined young musician, Michael has gone on to win numerous piano competitions, including 2021 American Pianists Association finalist award; winner 2019 Juilliard Gina Bachauer Competition; first prize 2018 New York International Piano Competition chamber ensemble; first prizes in both soloist and concerto categories at the 33rd Ithaca College of Music Piano Competition; Grand Prize at the LISMA Foundation 9th International Music Competition; and first place in the 2011 Mary Smart International Concerto Competition. Michael also received a four year scholarship from the Chopin Foundation of the United States.
As soloist, he has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Symphonicity, Monterey Symphony, Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, Yonkers Philharmonic Orchestra, Ithaca College Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic Orchestra, Summit Music Festival Orchestra, Bronx Arts Ensemble Orchestra, New York Concerti Sinfonietta, Doctor’s Orchestra of NY, the NY Chamber Orchestra and the West Point Band. He has performed as soloist and chamber player at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, the Kimmel Center, Sandler Center, Symphony Space, Merkin Concert Hall, given recitals in Spain at the Burgos International Music Festival, in Italy at Teatro Alfieri, in St. Petersburg Russia with the International Academy of Music, and at numerous music festivals, including the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (Yale), the Music Academy of the West, Kneisel Hall, Summit Music, and Music@Menlo. Michael has also performed on WHYY “Curtis On Stage”, WQXR McGraw Hill Young Artist Showcase – “The Robert Sherman Show”, WSKG-FM radio Expressions Series, NPR’s radio program “From the Top”, “Piano Evenings with David Dubal.”
An exceptional presence on the concert stage, Michael has repeatedly earned glowing reviews in the press: “2021 American Pianists Awards concerto round: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat Major, S.124…the excitement of the “Allegro Marziale animato” was introduced with masterly suspense, and the thrills of that finale seemed truly earned by the “intense sensitivity” the pianist had displayed previously…this was not adventitious excitement applied out of nowhere; it had been present, thanks to Davidman’s acuity and interpretive élan, from the start…all told, this was one of the best concerto performances I’ve heard in recent years, (Upstage – Indianapolis, IN – Jay Harvey, June 27, 2021); “The standout twenty year-old Michael Davidman … a talent to watch. His account of Rachmaninoff’s complex and quirky sonata … was electrifying for its sweeping yet refined sentimentality and pyrotechnical prowess of which he tossed off fiendishly difficult passagework with great finesse – and a few gasps were even heard from the spellbound audience.” (The Classical Music Journal); “He performed the final movement so magnificently … it brought the audience to its feet with wild applause.” (Peninsula Reviews, Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21); Monterey Symphony); “a high level of playing … the incredible facility of pianist Michael Davidman.” (Philadelphia Enquirer Daily News, Kimmel Center Curtis Symphony performance of Ravel’s opera L’enfant et les Sortilèges); and “Violinist Steven Waarts and Michael Davidman … two 11- year-old prodigies, and I rarely apply that term, and never loosely … the best of the best.” (San Mateo Journal).
An opera enthusiast from a very young age, Michael delights in uploading historical and rare opera recordings to his YouTube channel called PucciniMD and in accompanying opera singers on special occasions on “opera night” at a New York City restaurant.
