Baruch Meir
2025 opened for Meir with a recital of works for piano four-hands with renowned pianist Martha Argerich as part of the Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition that he directs. Throughout his career, Meir has performed extensively in Austria, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Portugal, Poland, Serbia, and the United States. An Associate Professor of Piano at the Arizona State University School of Music, Dance and Theatre, at the Herberger Institute since 2000, Meir maintains a busy teaching schedule in addition to his international concert career. He toured China’s main conservatories several times and was awarded a guest professorship at Wenzhou University there. He has also taught in Koreas’ most important music schools and in numerous music schools and conservatories in the USA.
A native of Israel, Meir is a summa cum laude graduate of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University, where he earned his master’s degree in piano performance. He holds the Artist Diploma from the Royal College of Music in London and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from ASU. His teachers include Rachel Gordon, Valter Aufheuser, Pnina Salzman, Michael Bugoslavsky, Irina Zaritskaya and Robert Hamilton. Meir’s distinctions include the American-Israel Cultural Foundation Awards, the British Council Fellowship, first place at the Klatzkin Competition for Contemporary Piano Music and the ASU Concerto Competition.
At Arizona State University, Meir maintains a class of outstanding pianists from all over the world. His students have been awarded top prizes in various competitions, including the MTNA National Young Artist, Schmindbauer International Competition, Yamaha and Bösendorfer USASU International Competition, Young Concert Artist International Competition, Washington International Piano Artists Competition. At ASU, his students have been frequent winners of the school concerto competition culminating with a performance with the ASU Symphony.
Meir frequently adjudicates in various competitions, among them the Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial in Serbia, Los Angeles Young Musicians International Competition, the Russian Music Competition in Vancouver, and the Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Competition where he served as chairman of the jury eleven times.
In summers, Meir teaches and performs as faculty in music festivals abroad. He has taught at Music Fest Perugia, Italy (2009-2013,) Semper Music International festivals in Schlern, Italy (2014-2018), and the White Nights International Festival in Saint Petersburg, Russia (2019- 2020). In 2022 he taught at the Chigiana Global Academy Intensive Piano Course in Siena, Italy. Since 2022 Meir serves on the piano faculty of the InterHarmony Music Festival in Aqcui Terme, Italy, and the EuroArts Music Academy and Festival in Szczecin, Poland.
Meir is the Founder, President, and Artistic Director of the Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition that is held at Arizona State University every two years. The competition draws some of the world’s top your pianists to participate in three age divisions, 13-15; 16-18; and 29-32, offering over $60,000 cash awards and concert engagements to the winners. Some of the world ’s most prestigious pianists and pedagogues serve on its’ jury, including Martha Argerich (2013, 2025), Sergei Babayan, Philip Kawin, Zhe Tang, Aviram Reichert, Sara Davis Buechner, and many others.
