Three generations of Belgian composers share this program with the music of Frédéric Rzewski, who was among Ledoux’s own teachers. Jesupret’s Lueurs immergées and De Glace trace light and ice; Ledoux’s You, Lonely Japanese Woman, and Saveur de Ciel grow from his lifelong engagement with Japanese music and culture, and his Ballade sentimentale, receiving its world premiere here, was written for Michael Noble; Deleuze’s Espaces Oniriques I pursues the harmonically colored, microtonal language he has developed since his early encounter with Messiaen. The program closes with four selections from Rzewski’s North American Ballads (Dreadful Memories, Which Side Are You On?, Down by the Riverside, Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues), music of protest and pianistic force.
Program order:
Apolline Jesupret: Lueurs immergées
Claude Ledoux: You, Lonely Japanese Woman, Saveur de Ciel, Ballade sentimentale (world premiere)
Apolline Jesupret: De Glace
Jean-Pierre Deleuze: Espaces Oniriques I
Frederic Rzewski: North American Ballads:
Dreadful Memories, Which Side Are You On?, Down by the Riverside, Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
Michael Noble is “a pianist with an admirable ability to serve the music at times with the subtlety of a master chamber music player, and also at times to blaze forth with commanding virtuosity and to carry [the audience] to dramatic climaxes.” (Lyn Bronson, Peninsula Reviews).
A prizewinner of numerous international competitions, Michael has been called “a pianist to remember” (Het Nieuwsblad) and “exceptional” (New York Concert Review). His most recent accolades include nominations in the Best Classical Artist and Best Classical Song categories at the 2024 and 2026 Wammie Music Awards, the DC metro area’s counterpart to the Grammys.
Michael’s discography includes three critically acclaimed solo albums—American Dissident, Ascension, and Silver Screen—which together have surpassed 1.3 million streams across major platforms.
He has performed in renowned venues, including Weill and Zankel Halls at Carnegie Hall, Orchestra Hall (Minneapolis), the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels, and the Preston Bradley Center in Chicago. Additionally, he is a sought-after guest artist, appearing regularly at festivals including the Cremona Musica (Italy), Gentsche Festspiele (Belgium), the Kwadrofonik Festival (Poland), the LOOP (Belgium), Musiksommer Schloss Rosenegg (Austria), and the Thailand International Composition Festival. Michael has been featured as soloist with the Monterey and Tulsa Symphonies, and the Idyllwild Arts Academy Alumni Orchestra, among others.
Michael holds a doctoral and two master’s degrees from the Yale School of Music and a BM and a BA in English Literature cum laude from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester respectively. In addition, he attended the Paris Conservatoire and the Royal Ghent Conservatory, the latter as a Fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation. His principal teachers and mentors include Peter Frankl, Nelita True, Melvin Chen, Daan Vandewalle, and Nicholas Angelich.
A strong advocate for new music, he has commissioned pieces by Claude Ledoux and Jesse Limbacher and is widely recognized as a leading interpreter of Frederic Rzewski’s music.
His 2026–27 season features solo and chamber performances throughout Belgium, Italy, and the United States — including at the Italian Embassy and the European-American Cultural Foundation — residencies at Georgetown University and the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, and the release of Homage and Resonance, his fourth and fifth solo albums.
Michael is on faculty at Levine Music and a frequent guest lecturer at Georgetown University. He is a Voting Member of The Recording Academy (the GRAMMYs) and is represented by BMI.
For more information visit michaelnoble.net.