Indian-American pianist Kunal Lahiry is a former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the 2021 Carl Bechstein Foundation scholarship. In the 2025/26 season, Kunal continues his close partnership with Icelandic soprano Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir through the ECHO Rising Stars initiative, giving recitals at venues including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie de Paris and BOZAR Brussels. He rejoins mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron for recitals in Madrid and Barcelona, tenor Freddie Ballentine for a performance of their programme »Our People« at 92nd St Y, New York, and returns to Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall to present a new programme celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States with baritone Jarrett Ott. This season will also see the premiere of Kunal’s new solo piano programme »Journey to Softness« which he performs at the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin and Philharmonie Duisburg.
Previous projects include »Power and the Glory«, a program exploring colonialism and its musical resonances across the world. The tour throughout the United States culminated in a triumphant, sold-out Carnegie Hall debut. In 2023 he conceived »Apparition«, a reimagining of George Crumb’s cycle interwoven with Nordic music and nominated for Best Live Music Act of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards. At the Heidelberger Frühling Lied.LAB 2022, he created »Sleep Cycle of an Insomniac«, an immersive journey inspired by Max Richter’s Sleep. His large-scale project »TransWinterreise« reimagines Schubert’s Winterreise through a queer lens, in collaboration with 24 contemporary composers and poets.
His cross-disciplinary collaborations include »Raw Cacao« with drag artist Le Gateau Chocolat, an eclectic fusion of cabaret, folk, disco, and art song. With singer Lie Ning, he blends pianism and pop aesthetics.
As Artist-in-Residence at LIFE Victoria Barcelona (2023–24), he presented several recital formats including »Five Centuries of Song« and collaborated with soprano Siobhan Stagg. He also served as musical assistant for the creation of »Nine Jewelled Dear« at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. In 2023, he conceived and curated the Queer Song Festival at St. George’s Bristol, broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
His recent international tours have taken him to India (2024) as well as to the Musikverein (Vienna), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Wigmore Hall (London), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Gulbenkian (Lisbon), Théâtre de l’Athénée (Paris), and Konzerthaus Berlin.
On the recording front, he released the single Unsung (2023) with cellist Sophie Kauer (of the film TÁR), on Deutsche Grammophon; it reached #1 on the U.S. Classical On-Demand Audio Streaming Chart.
Originally from Gainesville, Georgia, he is a graduate of McGill University (Schulich Scholar) and the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler (Berlin), with distinction in Lied performance. He has taken part in prestigious academies including Royaumont-Orsay, the Carnegie Hall Song Studio (under Renée Fleming), and Heidelberg Lied Academy (Thomas Hampson).