The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc. His passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for Wigmore Hall (London), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), 92nd Street Y (New York) and the Pierre Boulez Saal (Berlin). He curates an annual series of song recitals—‘Julius Drake and Friends’—in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London. Julius holds a Professorship at Austria’s University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where he has a class for song pianists. He is also a Professor of Collaborative Piano at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and is regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide.

Julius’s many recordings include a widely acclaimed series with Gerald Finley for Hyperion Records, from which the Barber Songs, Schumann Dichterliebe & other Heine Settings and Britten Songs & Proverbs won the 2007, 2009 and 2011 Gramophone Awards respectively; award-winning recordings with Ian Bostridge; and several recitals with Alice Coote, Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Matthew Polenzani and Anna Prohaska, among others. Julius’s recording of Janáček’s The diary of one who disappeared for Hyperion, with tenor Nicky Spence and mezzo-soprano Václava Housková, won both a Gramophone Award and BBC Music Magazine Award in 2020.