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Marilyn Nonken

Professor of Music and Music Education; Chair, Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions; Director of Piano Studies

Music and Performing Arts Professions

marilyn.nonken@nyu.edu
212.998.5612

Upon her recital debut, Marilyn Nonken was heralded as "a determined protector of important music" (New York Times). Since then, she has been recognized as "one of the greatest interpreters of new music" (American Record Guide). Writes Fanfare: “Her voicings are exquisite, her pedaling throughout is a model to be studied, and, when necessary, her virtuosity is equaled only by the insight and passion with which every piece is imbued.” In 2006, she came to NYU Steinhardt as Director of Piano Studies. In 2022, she was appointed Chair of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, where she continues to teach.

Her monograph The Spectral Piano (Cambridge University Press) was received as “a screaming success …. Few books can boast as much, and it is gratifying to encounter an international concert performer who can make so engaging a discourse around her core repertoire." (Bob Gilmore, Tempo). Identity and Diversity in New Music: The New Complexities (Routledge) was published in July 2019. She has written chapters for Perspectives on the Performance of French Piano Music, Messiaen Perspectives, Messiaen in Context, The Oxford Handbook of Spectral Music, and In Search of Morton Feldman: The Composer at 100; served as a guest editor for Contemporary Music Review; and contributed articles to numerous journals. 

As a pianist and Steinway Artist, she has been presented at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center,  the Guggenheim Museum, Neue Galerie, and Roulette (New York), IRCAM, Reid Hall, and the Théâtre Bouffe du Nord (Paris), the ABC (Melbourne), Logos (Ghent), Instituto Chileno-Norteamericano (Santiago), Chicago Cultural Center and Symphony Center, Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia), Phillips Collection (Washington DC), Menil Collection and Rothko Chapel (Houston). Her wide-ranging discography includes more than 30 recordings for New World, Mode, Lovely Music, Albany, Metier, Hanging Bell, Harrison House, CRI, BMOP Sound, New Focus, Kairos, Tzadik, and Bridge. Festival appearances include Résonances and the Festival d'Automne (Paris), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Aspects des Musiques d'Aujourd-hui (Caën), Rencontres Musicales (Jaugette), ATEMPO (Caracas), New Music Days (Ostrava), Musikhøst (Odense), When Morty Met John, Making Music, Works and Process, and  Composers Now (New York), American Sublime (Philadelphia), Festival of New American Music (Sacramento),  Music on the Edge (Pittsburgh), Puerto Piano (San Juan), Piano Festival Northwest (Portland), NUNC! (Chicago), Unruly Music (Milwaukee), and the William Kapell International Piano Festival and Competition. 

A student of David Burge (The Eastman School) and Leonard Stein (Musikakademie Rheinsberg), Marilyn Nonken received a Ph.D. in musicology from Columbia University.

Selected Publications

And Recordings

  • “ 'Jim You Never Sent Me A Letter:’ Feldman, Tenney, and American Spectralism." In In Search of Morton Feldman: A Portrait of the Composer at 100. Edited by Benjamin Levy. Turnhout: Brepols Press. 2026.
  • “Repenser l’histoire: En petit arbre généalogie du spectralisme.” Circuit: Musiques contemporaines (2025): 69-82.
  • Hugues Dufourt: L'Origine du monde. With the NYU Contemporary Music Ensemble and Jonathan Haas. Divine Art mex77120. 2025.
  • Morton Feldman: Complete Works for Piano and Violoncello. With Stephen Marotto, vcl. Mode 340/341. 2024.
  • "Messiaen and Spectralism.” In Messiaen in Context. Edited by Robert Sholl. Cambridge, 2023.
  • "Performance Practices: David Burge, Robert Miller, and the Makrokosmos.” Contemporary Music Review 41/1 (2022).
  • “The Performer in the Music of Milton Babbitt.” Contemporary Music Review 40/2 (2022).
  • “The Spectral Attitude and Its Relation to Performance.” In The Oxford Handbook of Spectral Music. Oxford, 2022.
  • "Hugues Dufourt and L'origine du monde: 'La mémoire, c’est l’avenir du passé'." In The Oxford Handbook of Spectral Music. Oxford, 2022.
  • Review of John Holzaepfel, “David Tudor ‘Solo for Piano’ by John Cage, Second Realization.” Edition and Critical Commentary. Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 78/3 (2022).
  • Syncopated Musings: Rags, Concert Waltzes, and Novelties for the Pianoforte by Scott Joplin and His Collaborators. Divine Art dda25220, 2022.  
  • Christopher Trapani: Horizontal Drift. New Focus 296, 2022.
  • Richard Carrick: Lanterne. With Either/Or, Mivos Quartet. New Focus FCR273, 2020.
  • Identity and Diversity in New Music: The New Complexities. Routledge, 2019.
  • Akemi Naito: Within My Soul. With Jessica Bowers, mezzo. Ravello RR8022, 2019.
  • “Identity and Diversity in New Music: Seeking a Connected Musical Society.” 21CM 52, June 2019.
  • Christopher Trapani: Waterlines. With JACK Quartet, Talea. New Focus FCR200, 2018.
  • Lou Bunk: A Shadow Upon the White. With Augustus Arnone, pno. Hanging Bell, 2018.
  • Michael Byron: The Ultraviolet of Many Parallel Paths. With Joseph Kubera, pno. 2018.
  • "Introduction." Timeless Relevance: The Keyboard Magazine Columns. Chelsea Books, 2018.
  • Larry Polansky: Three Pieces for Two Pianos. With Joseph Kubera, pno. New World 80777-2, 2016.
  • Miguel Chuaqui: Confabulario. Ravello RR7939 2016.
  • Jason Eckardt: Subject. With ICE, JACK Quartet. Tzadik 9006, 2015.
  • Paul Nauert: A Distant Music. New World 80769, 2015.
  • “Messiaen to Murail, or, What Sounds Become." In Perspectives on the Performance of French Piano Music. Ashgate, 2014.
  • The Spectral Piano: From Liszt, Scriabin, & Debussy to the Digital Age. Cambridge, 2014.
  • “Messiaen and the Spectralists." In Messiaen Perspectives 2: Technique, Influence and Reception. Ashgate, 2013.
  • Voix Voilées: Spectral Piano Music. Metier MSV-CD 28524, 2012.
  • Drew Baker: Stress Position. New Focus FCR116, 2011.
  • Olivier Messiaen: Visions de l’Amen. With Sarah Rothenberg, pno. Bridge 9324, 2010.
  • Brian Ferneyhough: Terrain. With Elision. Kairos 013072KAI, 2010.
  • David Laganella: The Calls of Gravity. With Prism Quartet. New Focus FCR114, 2010.
  • Chris Bailey: Immolation Ritual. Innova 695, 2010.
  • Roger Reynolds: Epigram and Evolution - Complete Piano Works. Mode 212, 2009.
  • David Rakowski: Winged Contraption. With Boston Modern Orchestra Project. BMOP Sound 1009, 2009.
  • "What Do Musical Chairs Afford? On Clarke's 'Ways of Listening' and Sacks's 'Musicophilia," Ecological Psychology 20/4 (2008).
  • "La notation ne peut rendre compte du fait:" Performing Murail's 'Territoires de l'Oubli," Tempo 244/62 (2008).
  • Chris Dench: Beyond Status Geometry. With Libra Ensemble. Tzadik tx8044. 2008.
  • William Albright: Music for Saxophones. With Prism Quartet. Innova 231, 2008.
  • Salvatore Martirano: O, O, O, O That Shakespeherian Rag. New World NW80535, 2007.
  • Charles Wuorinen: Adapting to the Times. With Fred Sherry, vcl. Albany/Troy 871, 2006.
  • Louis Karchin: Matrix. With Taimur Sullivan, sax. Albany/Troy 895, 2006.
  • Tristan Murail: The Complete Piano Music. Metier. MSV-CD 92097, 2005.
  • Morton Feldman: Triadic Memories. Mode CD/DVD 136, 2004.
  • Jason Eckardt: Out of Chaos. With Ensemble 21. Mode CD 137, 2004.
  • David Rakowski: Martian Counterpoint. With US Marine Band. Albany/Troy 681, 2004.
  • "Performers on Performance," (guest editor), Contemporary Music Review 21/1 (2002).
  • Alvin Lucier: Still Lives. LCD 501, 2001.
  • American Spiritual. CRI 877, 2001.
  • "The Pianist's Space," Newsletter of the Institute for American Music (2000).
  • "Review of Music Theory in Concept and Practice," Current Musicology 62 (1998).

Programs

Piano Studies

Hone your skills as a pianist through lessons with a renowned Artist Faculty, innovative coursework, dedicated mentorship, and unparalleled performance opportunities.

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Courses

Colloquy in Music

The course description should also be updated to: To prepare students in the final stages of graduate study for degree recitals and public performances, and to provide the skills and documents necessary to advance to the next level of their careers. To examine professional opportunities in academia and the non-profit sector and the relationships artists maintain with private and public presenters and supporters. To explore the activities, responsibilities, and changing roles and responsibilities of performer-pedagogues relative to contemporary issues of identity, diversity, and access.
Course #
MPAPE-GE 2026
Credits
2 - 3
Department
Music and Performing Arts Professions

Instrumental Techniques and Materials: Chamber Music

Rehearsal techniques and special problems in ensemble performance.
Course #
MPAPE-GE 2034
Credits
0 - 3
Department
Music and Performing Arts Professions

Piano (Private Lessons)

Open to department graduate students majoring in music. Private piano lessons covering repertoire from all styles and forms, supplemented by extra assignments. Attendance at recitals and master classes required
Course #
MPAPE-GE 2356
Credits
2 - 4
Department
Music and Performing Arts Professions

Piano (Private Lessons) for Music Majors

Private or group lessons (by examination) in piano, supplemented by extra assignments, outside practice, and observation. Required attendance at recitals.
Course #
MPAPE-UE 1056
Credits
2 - 3
Department
Music and Performing Arts Professions

Piano Literature III

The emphasis in this class is on the historical and aesthetic analysis of the development of piano literature in the Contemporary period. Compositions for piano that represent atonality, serialism, extended techniques, multimedia and interactive electronic techniques, the influence of jazz and popular music, Darmstadt and the New York School, and Spanish and Latin American music are performed and analyzed in class. Scholarship that examines ?the new complexity?, minimalism, and postmodernism is reviewed. Students demonstrate their knowledge of the repertoire in research papers, related written assignments, and listening exams. Student performance in class is required. [03/28/2008]
Course #
MPAPE-GE 2187
Credits
3
Department
Music and Performing Arts Professions