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Pianist Alessio Bax performs and records solo and in piano duos with his wife, Lucille Chung. Bax is based in the U.S., where he was partly trained, but he has an international career. In addition to performing, Bax is well known as a cook and gourmand. He has a substantial recording catalog on the Signum Classics label, where he released the album Forgotten Dances in 2024.

Bax was born in Bari, Italy, on the Adriatic Sea on November 30, 1977. He was a child prodigy who completed a course of study at the Bari Conservatory in five years, becoming its youngest-ever graduate at age 15. After launching his career and winning major prizes, including the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (1997) and the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition (2000), he felt the need for more studies and moved to the U.S., where he enrolled at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. His teacher there was Joaquín Achúcarro, for whose foundation he and Chung later became co-artistic directors. He also joined the faculty of SMU's Meadows School of the Arts. He has retained ties to Italy, serving there as artistic director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival. He made some early recordings for the Dynamic label and also recorded for Naxos, appearing on the album Dupré: Works for Organ, Vol. 6, in 1999. He moved to Warner Classics in 2004 for the solo release Baroque Reflections.

Bax has continued to live in the U.S.; he and Chung reside in New York, but his career is international. He has appeared with such groups as the London Philharmonic, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Symphony under world-class conductors, including Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Marin Alsop. Bax is also a noted chamber musician who has collaborated with violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Steven Isserlis, and violist Nobuko Imai, among others. His rich career as a solo recitalist has taken him all over North America and Europe and to various East Asian capitals. He often performs with Chung and has stated that their communication when preparing a work may be nonverbal. The pair released the album Poulenc: Works for Piano Solo and Duo on the Signum Classics label in 2016. That year also saw Bax release the album Lullabies for Mila, dedicated to his daughter. Bax has issued various albums on that label, including Italian Inspirations (2020). He and Chung returned on Signum Classics in 2024 with the album Debussy and Ravel for Two. In addition to performing, Bax is known for his cooking, which he displays at elaborate dinner parties that have been profiled in the New York Times. He joined the faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music in 2019. ~ James Manheim