Mark Neiwirth

Pianist Mark Neiwirth is a Steinway Artist and the recipient of the 2018 Idaho Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. He has built an international reputation as a soloist, chamber musician, teacher,
adjudicator, composer, and arranger, performing across Europe, South Africa, India, and dozens of venues throughout the United States. His artistry combines technical mastery with dramatic sensitivity, earning him acclaim from critics and colleagues alike. Over his career, he has performed more than thirty concerti with orchestras across the country and spent sixteen seasons as the featured soloist of the Sun Valley Symphony.

For seven years he chaired the Piano Department at the Sun Valley School of Music and since 2005 has been an Adjunct Professor of Piano at Idaho State University. In 1998 he founded Musicians West, Inc., a nonprofit that sponsors concerts, scholarships, and composer commissions across Idaho. Under his leadership, Musicians West presents an annual Piano Festival & Competition and administers the statewide Certificate of Achievement exam, supporting emerging pianists at every level.

As a passionate chamber musician, Neiwirth was a founding member of New York’s Davidsbund, the California Trio in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City’s Vista Trio, the Edgar M. Bronfman Chamber Series in Sun Valley, and Idaho’s Amadeus Trio. In 1997 the Salt Lake Tribune honored him as “Best Collaborative Pianist of the Year,” recognizing his exceptional musical partnership and interpretive insight. Committed to new music, he has premiered more than twenty-five works written especially for him by composers including Thom Ritter George, Lukas Foss, Yehudi Wyner, Carl Byron, Kevin Olson, Timothy Brown, and William Montgomery. His premieres encompass solos, chamber music, concerti, and two-piano works,
reflecting his dedication to expanding the modern piano repertoire and fostering creative collaboration.

As an adjudicator and clinician, Neiwirth has judged competitions for MTNA in Washington, Montana, and the Pacific Northwest, and served as guest clinician for the Steinway Society Awards Festivals. In  was guest adjudicator and presenter at MusiQuest in Pune, India, and in 2013 he toured South Africa as a cultural envoy of the U.S. Embassy, performing in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Pretoria.

He grew up in Idaho and studied with Fawn King, Olive Boren Stirland, and Teala Bellini before pursuing advanced training at The Hartt School with Raymond Hanson and at the Manhattan School of Music with Constance Keene and Dora Zaslavsky, where he served as her teaching assistant.

Neiwirth’s 2023 recording “Counting Rests” won two Silver Medals in the Global Music Awards for performance and programming. He remains deeply engaged in community leadership, serving on boards and committees of the Pocatello Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Pocatello Arts Council,
Idaho State-Civic Symphony, Idaho Music Teachers Association, Toastmasters International, and ISU’s Fulbright Advisory Committee.