Composer and pianist Michael Stephen Brown released his debut album, Twelve Blocks, on the First Hand Records label.

Dedicated entirely to his own compositions, offers a series of musical portraits of experiences, relationships, stories, and literary works drawn from Brown's life.

In addition to Brown, the album's performers include pianists Jerome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens, and Anne-Marie McDermott, soprano Susanna Phillips, violist Paul Neubauer, clarinetist Osmo Vänskä, and violinist Erin Keefe.

Pieces included on the album include Four Lakes for Children (2024), Pas de trios (2025), Relationship (2018), Twelve Blocks for Piano (Four Hands) and Poetry (2021), Love's Lives Lost (2023), Breakup Etude for the Right Hand Alone (2020), and Pour Angeline (2024).

The album's cover artwork was contributed by American cartoonist and writer Amy Kurzweil.

"These are pieces for the people who’ve shaped my life—in ways tender, complicated, and occasionally absurd," wrote Brown. "From lost loves to lifelong mentors, from children who never grew up to couples who walk twelve blocks just to see each other, this album is full of true stories, emotional detours, and at least one breakup etude I probably should’ve kept to myself."

Hear the full album below:

 

A 2025 MacDowell Fellow and 2024 Yaddo Artist, composer and pianist Michael Stephen Brown is the recipient of awards including the 2026 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award, the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. His music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Maryland Symphony, and more, and he has appeared in recital at Alice Tully Hall, the Louvre, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, and festivals such as Tanglewood, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Ravinia, and Caramoor. Brown is a graduate of The Juilliard School.