Kirk Reese — Piano

Discovering his passion for music early in life, Reese began his formal musical training at the age of five. He studied under pianists Cedar Walton and former John Cage protégé Ron Thomas, and jazz guitarists and theorists Pat Martino and Steve Giordano.

Having been an active part of the Pennsylvania jazz scene for thirty years, Kirk has performed with numerous notable jazz legends including alto saxophonist Phil Woods, trumpeter Marvin Stamm, Russian trumpeter Valery Ponomarev, German violinist Jörg Widmoser, Tim Warfield Jr., Ralph Moore, Billy Higgins, Blues Brother Lou Marini, and jazz violinist John Blake.

His bands have opened for Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, B.B. King, Joe Morello (Dave Brubeck), Bob Mintzer (Yellowjackets), and many others. He has performed with the Harrisburg Symphony and has composed works ranging from solo piano to symphony orchestra pieces. Mr. Reese has played on countless recordings including "The Reese Project: Blue Etude," which received a Grammy nomination in 2002.

He attended Elizabethtown College and Global University/Berean School of the Bible. Kirk has served on the faculty at Elizabethtown College and has performed clinics and seminars at Swarthmore College, Albright College, Gettysburg, York, and Elizabethtown Colleges, to name a few. Through the Leonard Bernstein Center, his involvement in Arts in Education earned him national recognition in 1996, as an innovator in arts infusion education.

"Kirk Reese is a pianist who other pianists like to check out. The intense connection he has to the music he plays results in performances that are consistently passionate and soaring. This is a guy who turns heads when he plays…" — David B. Thomas, Composition/Piano Faculty, The University of The Arts, Philadelphia, PA