About the Artist

"In Jordan Bak they have given us a star in the making. He is a young artist to watch for."

-Jon Sobel, Seattle Pi

Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak is an outstanding artist of passion, energy, and authenticity in the recital and chamber music arenas. A Sphinx MPower Artist Grant Recipient and a top laureate of the 2020 Sphinx Competition, Bak is also a winner and Audience Prize recipient of the 2019 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, the recipient of the 2019 Samuel Sanders Tel Aviv Museum Prize and the 2019 John White Special Prize from the Tertis International Viola Competition. In addition to his growing solo career, Jordan Bak is a member of the celebrated New York Classical Players and is a featured artist for WQXR’s inaugural Artist Propulsion Lab.

Highlights of the 2020-2021 season include virtual recitals at Merkin Concert Hall, The National Arts Club and the American Viola Society, as well as performances at WQXR/WNYC’s The Greene Space, The Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and Kaufman Music Center’s Musical Storefronts. Bak will also be returning to the legendary Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. He has been heard as a recitalist and chamber musician in the United States at such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Jordan Hall, and Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, among others, and in Europe at the Verbier Festival, the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, the Centre de Musique Hindemith, and the Helsinki Musiikkitalo.

A proud advocate of 20th and 21st century new music, Bak gave the world premieres of Kaija Saariaho’s Du gick, flög for viola and mezzo-soprano and Die Aussicht for string quartet and soprano. Bak also gave an acclaimed performance of the Druckman Viola Concerto with The Juilliard Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall in New York. He has additionally collaborated with such composers as Eli Greenhoe, Sampo Kansurinen, Caroline Shaw, and Delong Wang.