Institute for Concert Artists Recital: Clayton Stephenson, Piano

Artist(s)

Clayton Stephenson, Piano

American pianist and NEC Concert Artist Clayton Stephenson ’23 NEC/Harvard, ’27 AD has a love for music that is immediately apparent in his joyous charisma onstage, expressive power, and natural ease at the instrument. Hailed for “extraordinary narrative and poetic gifts” and interpretations that are “fresh, incisive and characterfully alive” (Gramophone), he is committed to making an impact on the world through his music-making.

Stephenson grew up in New York City, started piano lessons at age 7, and the next year was accepted into The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program — a full scholarship program for disadvantaged students — where he lingered to watch student recitals and fell in love with music. Stephenson practiced on a synthesizer at home until he found an old upright piano on the street. For the next six years, that would be his practice piano, until, at age 17, he received a new piano from the Lang Lang Foundation. 

Stephenson credits the generous support of community programs that provided him with musical inspiration and resources along the way. As he describes it, the “Third Street Music School jump-started my music education; the Young People’s Choir taught me phrasing and voicing; Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program introduced me to formal and rigorous piano training, which enabled me to get into Juilliard Pre-College; the Morningside Music Bridge validated my talent and elevated my self-confidence; the Boy’s Club of New York exposed me to jazz; and the Lang Lang Foundation brought me to stages worldwide and transformed me from a piano student to a young artist.”

Highlights of his recent and upcoming appearances include concerto performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston, Cincinnati, Nashville, Stuttgart, and Pasadena symphony orchestras; festival appearances at Grand Teton, Grant Park, and Tippet Rise; recitals at the 92nd Street Y (New York City), Salle Gaveau (Paris), and Concertgebouw (Amsterdam); and gala performances with the New York and Las Vegas philharmonics. He served as the 2024-25 artist-in-residence at the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

Stephenson graduated from the Harvard/New England Conservatory dual degree program in spring 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Harvard and a Master of Music degree in piano performance from NEC. In addition to being the first Black finalist at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, he received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2024, won the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition that year, received the Sphinx Organization’s Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2025, and is a Gilmore Young Artist.

Stephenson studies with Professor Wha Kyung Byun.