Dan Saunders

As a pianist, Dan Saunders has performed in concert throughout the world with many leading singers and instrumentalists including Jessye Norman, Kiri TeKanawa, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Kathleen Battle, Tatiana Troyanos, Marilyn Horne, Dimitri Horostovsky, and Thomas Allen; more recently with Sonya Yoncheva, Susanna Phillips, Latonia Moore, Isobel Leonard, Jamie Barton, Nathan Gunn, Gerald Finley and Luca Pisaroni, as well as violinists Eugene Fodor and Jennifer Gilbert.

Dan performed with Jessye Norman at the White House, Avery Fisher Hall Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, San Francisco Opera, and Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan and with Marilyn Horne at Paris’ Bastille.

Mr. Saunders has also been featured on national television with Ms. Norman, Dimitri Horostovsky and Gary Lakes. A frequent guest on WQXR’s Listening Room, he has performed with such artists as Danielle De Niese, Lisette Oropesa, and Luca Pisaroni.  New York Times live streams have included appearances with Angel Blue, Angela Meade and Golda Schultz.

He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Paris Bastille and Salle Gaveau, London’s Wigmore Hall and on the South Bank.

Festivals include the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Salzburg, Tanglewood, Ravinia and Caramoor Festivals, as well as Japan’s Matsumoto Festival.

Recordings include Kathleen Battle, Soprano on SONY Video, Estrellita with violinist Tomoko Kato on the Denon Label and with violinist Eugene Fodor on Newport Classics.

During his tenure at the Met, Dan has also been heard as harpsichordist on Metropolitan Broadcasts for productions including Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito.  For seven summers, Saunders has served as pianist for the Met’s Summer in the Parks series in Central Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park. He also has collaborated with the Lindemann Young Artists for their summer concert series throughout the city.

He studied piano at Wheaton College, continuing with Carl Friedberg protégé William Browning at the American Conservatory in Chicago.  Subsequently, he spent four years of study with Pianist Geoffrey Parsons in London.