THE FOUNDER

KIMBALL GALLAGHER has risen to prominence as one of the most dynamic and multifaceted pianists on the stage today. His sensitive insights at the keyboard, coupled with his pioneering and enterprising sensibilities, have enabled him to explore and develop a broad scope of creative endeavors. As founder of the NGO, 88 International,  and in collaboration with public and private  partners, he develops and launches large-scale transformational music programs for youth, leading to societal level impacts around the globe.

Critics have described him as a “dynamo,” “sunlit and rapturous” and “a lightning bolt” Gallagher’s sold-out 2008 debut at Carnegie Hall launched his international The 88-Concert Tour , a series reviving the salon culture through  300+ performances in a variety of non-traditional venues. Gallagher has blazed a trail across the 7 continents, appeared in 30 countries, and performed in distinguished venues and intimate gatherings all over the world, from the Kennedy Center to Kabul, Bombay to Boulder, Chicago to Shanghai, and Tuscany to Tunisia. This year, 2023 he will perform his Paris debut recital at Salle Gaveau.

88 International, under the leadership of Gallagher and in partnership with numerous institutional partners, has initiated large scale music education and life skills programs in Myanmar, Tunisia, Taiwan, Senegal, St. Martin and Chile. Collectively these programs have brought music in person to over 200,000 students around the globe.  4000 of these students, members of 88 International’s  Tunisia88 program, have composed more than 500 of their own original compositions and created over 900 of their own events for more than 100,000 audience members.  88 International’s programs have been a source of growth and inspiration for thousands of adolescents around the globe.  In the coming decade,  88 International will expand its programs in 88 countries.

Gallagher’s recordings include the complete Chopin Etudes, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and an album of Liszt including the epic Sonata in B Minor.  Additionally, he has recorded 88 of his own Preludes, each one dedicated to a different person he met on his 88-Concert-Tour, representing meaningful human connections in more than 30 countries.

A native of Boston, Kimball Gallagher earned his undergraduate degree at Rice University in the studio of Jeanne Kierman-Fischer, and his Master of Music degree as a pupil of Robert McDonald at The Juilliard School. His life-long mentor, pianist Joseph Smith, was a mainstay of his musical development along with teachers David Dubal, Jerome Lowenthal, and Seymour Bernstein with whom he appeared in the film Seymour: An Introduction directed by Ethan Hawke.

For more information, you can visit: www.kimballgallagher.com