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Home Podcast Conductor Biographies Bill Hemminger Biography Photos Videos Articles and Reviews Radio Broadcast Schedule History of the EPO Mission and Values Board of Directors 2025-2026 Sponsors 2025-2026 Philharmonic Gives Back Donors 12/1/2024 - 12/1/2025 Thoughtful Tributes 12/1/2024 - 12/1/2025
Clayton Stephenson
Piano

Photo by Jürgen Frank

Growing up in New York City, Clayton started piano lessons at age 7. The next year, he was accepted into The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program—a full scholarship program for disadvantaged students—where he lingered to watch student recitals and fell in love with music. Clayton practiced on a synthesizer at home until he found an old upright piano on the street. For the next six years that would be his practice piano, until, at the age of 17, he received a new piano from the Lang Lang Foundation.

He credits the generous support of community programs with providing him musical inspiration and resources along the way. These include the Third Street Music School, Young People’s Choir, Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program, Morningside Music Bridge, Boy’s Club of New York, and the Lang Lang Foundation.

Highlights of his 2025-26 season include appearances with the Cincinnati Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Arts Festival, Festival Internazionale Palermo (Italy), Boston Pops and Sarasota Orchestra. Upcoming performances include the Ravel Concerto in G with the Nashville and Portland (Maine) Symphonies as well as the Stuttgart Philharmonic (Germany), and recitals at the Jacobins Festival (Toulouse, France), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Isabella Gardner Museum (Boston) and Crystal Bridges Museum (Arkansas).

Recent seasons have included concerto performances with the Houston, North Carolina, Virginia and Cincinnati Symphonies; festival appearances at Grand Teton, Grant Park, and Tippet Rise; recitals at the Kennedy Center for Washington Performing Arts and the 92nd Street Y in New York City; and gala performances with the New York and Las Vegas Philharmonics. He also served as the 2024-25 Artist-in-Residence at the Hartford Symphony.

Clayton Stephenson graduated from the Harvard-New England Conservatory (NEC) dual degree program in 2023 with a BA in economics from Harvard and a Masters degree in piano performance from NEC under Wha Kyung Byun. In addition to being the first Black finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, he has been a recipient of a 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, won the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition in 2024 and received a Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2025.



Clayton Stephenson
Piano

Photo by Jürgen Frank

Growing up in New York City, Clayton started piano lessons at age 7. The next year, he was accepted into The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program—a full scholarship program for disadvantaged students—where he lingered to watch student recitals and fell in love with music. Clayton practiced on a synthesizer at home until he found an old upright piano on the street. For the next six years that would be his practice piano, until, at the age of 17, he received a new piano from the Lang Lang Foundation.

He credits the generous support of community programs with providing him musical inspiration and resources along the way. These include the Third Street Music School, Young People’s Choir, Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program, Morningside Music Bridge, Boy’s Club of New York, and the Lang Lang Foundation.

Highlights of his 2025-26 season include appearances with the Cincinnati Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Arts Festival, Festival Internazionale Palermo (Italy), Boston Pops and Sarasota Orchestra. Upcoming performances include the Ravel Concerto in G with the Nashville and Portland (Maine) Symphonies as well as the Stuttgart Philharmonic (Germany), and recitals at the Jacobins Festival (Toulouse, France), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Isabella Gardner Museum (Boston) and Crystal Bridges Museum (Arkansas).

Recent seasons have included concerto performances with the Houston, North Carolina, Virginia and Cincinnati Symphonies; festival appearances at Grand Teton, Grant Park, and Tippet Rise; recitals at the Kennedy Center for Washington Performing Arts and the 92nd Street Y in New York City; and gala performances with the New York and Las Vegas Philharmonics. He also served as the 2024-25 Artist-in-Residence at the Hartford Symphony.

Clayton Stephenson graduated from the Harvard-New England Conservatory (NEC) dual degree program in 2023 with a BA in economics from Harvard and a Masters degree in piano performance from NEC under Wha Kyung Byun. In addition to being the first Black finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, he has been a recipient of a 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, won the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition in 2024 and received a Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2025.