For Jeremy Denk’s piano recital Tuesday night at Union College, there will be no appetizers, desserts or refreshing little side dishes, just a couple of big entrees: In an ambitious and daring program, the 37-year-old will tackle two of the most daunting piano sonatas in the repertoire, Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” and Ives’ “Concord.” “It’s kind of an exercise in wishful...

“I’m the type, if I see something I tackle it,” says classical pianist Anthony de Mare. And he’s not just speaking figuratively. The pianist, who makes his Carnegie Hall debut on March 15, is known for throwing his bulked-up body fully into his music making. In “Playin’ Myself,” his 2001 show that toured the U.S. and abroad, de Mare recited poetry, sang and even tap danced – all while playing the piano....

“Very often I have invitations to go to dinner parties with heads of states or royalty or ambassadors or whoever and I’ll always say I have a companion with me and I’d like him to be invited,” says the French classical pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, 41. “And though I don’t say it, what that basically means is if he’s not invited I’ll not come.” In demand around the globe,...