Jarred Dunn
Course Lecturer
BM, BEd: Univ. of Toronto. Professional Studies, The Juilliard School, with Jacob Lateiner and Yoheved Kaplinsky. Further studies in New York with Dorothy Taubman. M.M., Post-Grad Diploma with Distinction: Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, with Anna Górecka. Post-Graduate Artist Diploma: Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, student of Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń. DMus: McGill University Schulich School of Music. Further studies in Europe with Maria João-Pires, Robert Levin, Dmitri Bashkirov.
Books:
Górecki: The Piano Music (forthcoming, Lexington Press/Rowman and Littlefield)
Reading the Piano (forthcoming, Lexington Press/Rowman and Littlefield)
Yamaha Artist Jarred Dunn is described by critics as “a piano sound-colour magician” (Muzikos Barai), “evocative and mystical” (New York Classical Music), "technically perfect" (Belarusian First Radio), and “a virtuoso with the most exquisite touch” (Freethought Today, Madison). Mr. Dunn is featured on the CBC’s Top 30 Under 30: Hot Canadian Classical Musicians, has hosted This is My Music, and is the subject of Five Things I Learned from Maria João-Pires.
His playing has been heard on CBC/Radio-Canada, 98.7 WVMO, New Classical 96.3FM, WWFM, WQXR, Belarusian First Radio, and Madison Freethought Radio/Television. His recordings include Chopin and Debussy (AFA, 2018), Brahms in Solitude (2022); Chopin's Diary: The Mazurkas (Lexicon Classics, 2023), and a fourth album of the complete works of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (2024). Brahms in Solitude received attention in LaScena Musicale as a five-star album, “His deft voicing and clarity speak to his understanding of the works of Brahms’s idol, J.S. Bach. His soft sound is at once full-bodied and resonant, and unthinkably quiet. Dunn’s precision, sense of musical direction, and knowledge of the piano’s every colour are on display here.”
Mr. Dunn won First Prize and Concerto Award at the 7th International Chopin Competition of Lithuania (Vilnius 2018), leading to concerts in Europe and abroad, and was a finalist/prizewinner in the 1st Jan Hofmann International Competition (Kraków 2019). He won prizes in Piano and Chamber Music at the Rome, Verona Zinetti, and Vitti International Competitions, and First Prize in McGill Piano Concerto Competition. He has performed worldwide as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestras, including Europe, Australia, and North America. Following Mr. Dunn's all-Chopin recital in Warsaw, one critic wrote,
The playing of the brilliant Canadian performer did not lack the “Polishness” that he had a chance to learn thoroughly from the best Polish teachers during his Master’s Studies in Katowice or later in Bydgoszcz. The “Polishness” was audible in every piece…Jarred Dunn showed his virtuosity, amazing sense of style, elegance and noble sensitivity, passion, beautiful piano and powerful forte, melodious cantilena, broad phrasing and very rich, nuanced range of sounds.
-Nina Sankari, K. Łyzczyński Foundation, Warsaw
In his repertoire are over forty concertos, representing his interest in this genre of performing. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Niagara Symphony, Sinfonia Toronto, York Symphony, McGill Symphony, Toruń Symphony, NOSPR Katowice (National Radio Symphony of the Republic of Poland), Vilnius Chamber, Cantus Symphony (Vilnius), Eurasian Chamber (Berlin), Budapest Chamber, and Belarusian State Radio-Television Orchestras, among others. He has collaborated with conductors Bradley Thachuk, Denis Mastromonaco, Anna Duczmal-Mroz, Przemysław Fiugajski, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Jakub Chrenowicz, Erki Pehk, Sabatino Vacca, Alexander Liebreich, and Nurhan Arman.
As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Johannes Brahms International Master Classes (Poertscach, Austria), the Ãtma Quartet (Poland), Baroque cellist Jessica Korotkin, pianists Dominic Gál and Urszula Stańczyk, and violinist Anna Kuk (Reverb Ensemble), including performances of major works by Franck, Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, etc. in New York, Toronto, Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia, and Poland.
At the 2022 Paderewski International Piano Competition, he hosted Competition Studio TV. He has adjudicated in competitions including the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Associations National Piano Competition (CFMTA), CCC Toronto, Classicalia International, F. Chopin International Competition of Lithuania, OMFA Provincial Concerto Competition, and at competitive festivals including ORMTA Toronto, Brampton, Burlington, Davenport, Peel, North York, Stirling, Seattle and Rockland (New York).
Noted by Tonebase Piano as “a revered pedagogue,” Mr. Dunn has given lectures, workshops and master classes at Bydgoszcz Academy of Music, Katowice Academy of Music, McGill University, University of Puget Sound (Seattle), Laurier University, Canadian Music Centre (CMC), Chopin University of Music (Poland), Vilnius New School of Music (Lithuania), Queen's University, and many others. His articles have been published in Canadian Music Educators’ Journal, Piano Magazine (formerly Clavier Companion), and Canadian Music Teacher. Of special importance to him was research at the former site of Auschwitz-Birkenau on music during the Holocaust, culminating in an article about Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (former cellist of the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra). He is featured in the Frances Clark Center From the Artist Bench series (2022). He has received awards and distinctions for his scholastic, musical, and pedagogical achievements including the Teacher Recognition Award (RTO), Graduate Prize of CFMTA National Essay Competition, and research-creation funding from the FRQSC and Canada Council for the Arts.
