Brian Zeger

Brian Zeger (MM ’81, piano), born in Port Jervis, New York, has been artistic director of Vocal Arts since 2004 and a Juilliard faculty member since 1993.

Recognized as one of today’s leading collaborative pianists, he has performed with many of the world’s greatest singers including Marilyn Horne, Deborah Voigt, Anna Netrebko, Susan Graham, René Pape, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade, Piotr Beczala, Bryn Terfel, Joyce DiDonato, Denyce Graves, and Adrianne Pieczonka in an extensive concert career that has taken him to premiere concert halls throughout the U.S. and abroad.

He has numerous recordings available on the EMI, Koch, Naxos and New World labels, his most recent including, on Delos, All Who Wander, a recital disc with Jamie Barton; Preludios—Spanish songs with Isabel Leonard; Strauss and Wagner lieder with Adrianne Pieczonka; Dear Theo: 3 Song Cycles by Ben Moore with Paul Appleby, Susanna Phillips and Brett Polegato; and A Lost World—Schubert Songs and Duets with Susanna Phillips and Shenyang.

Also active as a chamber musician, Zeger has been a regular guest at many summer festivals including Aspen, Ravinia, Caramoor, Aldeburgh, and Santa Fe, and has made appearances at the Bard Music Festival, the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, and the Frankly Music series in Milwaukee. He has enjoyed collaborations with the Borromeo and Brentano quartets, An die Musik, the New York Philharmonic Chamber Ensembles, and with Bernard Greenhouse, Glenn Dicterow, Eugene Drucker, and Paula Robison.

He has taught and given master classes for numerous institutions and served for 10 years as the artistic director of the song program at the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival and for eight years as the executive director of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Development Program.

His critical essays and other writings have appeared in publications including Opera News, the Yale Review, and Chamber Music magazine. He has made frequent appearances on the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts and has adjudicated many prominent competitions including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Concert Artists Guild auditions, the Walter W. Naumberg Vocal Competition, and Richard Tucker Music Foundation Auditions.

Zeger holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard, a master’s degree from Juilliard, and a doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers have included Morris Borenstein, Sascha Gorodnitzki, and Nina Svetlanova.