Jack Yarbrough is a pianist and multi-keyboardist active in contemporary and experimental music. Focused on the solo piano recital as a medium for temporal and perceptual expansion, he has commissioned and premiered numerous large-scale works aimed at reevaluating the instrument in an era of increasing cultural irrelevance. His idiosyncratic programming and collaborations explore the rich minutiae of touch, resonance, and decay. In the words of Alex Ross, “Yarbrough’s piano seems less a physical machine than a zone of resonance.” Beyond the modern piano, Jack frequently works with a wide range of keyboard instruments, including the fortepiano, organ, Indian harmonium, and Rhodes electric piano.

Jack has worked closely with composers such as Timothy McCormack, Linda Catlin Smith, Richard Barrett, Evan Johnson, Marti Epstein, Makiko Nishikaze, and Laura Cetilia. As a chamber musician, Jack has performed with ensembles including Ensemble intercontemporain, Yarn/Wire, and Ensemble X, and maintains an ongoing collaboration with cellist Hannah Soren. His work has been featured in publications and blogs including The New Yorker, Tempo, Night After Night, Boring Like a Drill, and MusicWeb International. His recording of Timothy McCormack’s mine but for its sublimation was ranked the #1 album of 2025 by Tim Rutherford-Johnson and #2 by Alex Ross. His recordings appear on Another Timbre, elsewhere, and Sawyer Editions.

Originally from outside Birmingham, Alabama, Jack now lives in Ithaca, New York, where he is a Sage Fellow at Cornell University and a candidate for the Doctorate of Musical Arts in Performance Practice. He has taught piano, chamber music, contemporary ensemble, and courses exploring musical temporality at Cornell University and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. His principal piano teachers include Stephen Drury, Xak Bjerken and Michael Kirkendoll, with additional organ studies with Annette Richards.

Highlights of Jack’s 2026–27 season include a performance of Morton Feldman’s Triadic Memories at Cornell University as part of the composer’s centennial celebrations; a Northeast tour with Hannah Soren in November 2026, with performances in Providence, Philadelphia, Boston and New York supporting the release of Laura Cetilia’s ephemeral bloom; and a solo recital at the BKA Theatre in Berlin in June 2027 as part of the Unerhörte Musik series.