Pianist Frank Dupree emerged as a promising figure on the German scene with his 2014 laureate prize win at the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb, winning praise for the wide spectrum of sound he was able to produce at the piano. Often focusing on contemporary music, he has gone on to win other major prizes in Germany as a performer and recording artist.

Dupree was born in Rastatt, in southwestern Germany, on December 6, 1991. He took up the piano at age five and has studied ever since then with Sontraud Speidel. For some time, Dupree studied and performed as a jazz percussionist. He attended the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. An early breakthrough was a first prize at the 2012 International Hans von Bülow Competition in Meiningen, Germany, awarded for his performance playing and directing from the piano. That led to scholarships from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, and he rounded out his education with master classes from the likes of Emanuel Ax, Cyprien Katsaris, and Stephen Kovacevich.

Dupree has performed with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris (directing it from the piano), the Minnesota Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic. In the mid-2010s, Dupree was heard on major releases of contemporary music by composers Péter Eötvös (Erdenklavier - Himmelklavier) and Wolfgang Rihm (Con Piano? Certo!). He was signed to the Capriccio label and in 2017 made his debut there with an album devoted to works by George Antheil, including the Piano Concerto No. 1. As a recitalist, he has appeared at Wigmore Hall in London, BOZAR in Brussels, and the Berlin Konzerthaus, among other venues. His chamber music collaborations have included work with trumpeter Simon Höfele, violinist Daniel Lozakovich, and the Calidore and Goldmund quartets. Dupree returned on Capriccio in 2021 with an album devoted to concerted works by Nikolai Kapustin, and that year, he also backed violist Timothy Ridout on the album A Poet's Love. ~ James Manheim, Rovi