Jory Vinikour (born May 12, 1963 in Chicago) is an American harpsichordist. He has been living in Paris since 1990, where he studied on a scholarship from the Fulbright Foundation with Huguette Dreyfus and Kenneth Gilbert.
He won first prizes in the International Harpsichord Competitions of Warsaw (1993) and the Prague Spring Festival (1994).
His concerto repertoire ranges from Bach to Nyman, and he regularly performs modern harpsichord concertos, such as the Petite Symphonie Concertante by Frank Martin, and the Harpsichord Concerto by the same composer.
He has accompanied Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter in recitals and, with lutenist Jakob Lindberg, they have recorded a programme of English and Italian music of the 17th century entitled "Music for a While".
He appears regularly as continuo player with Marc Minkowski's baroque orchestra Les Musiciens du Louvre, Opéra National de Paris, Salzburg Festival and Glyndebourne Festival and is heard on many recordings. Jory is a regular presence at the Zürich Opera, and has appeared on their stage (disguised as Handel) with Cecilia Bartoli in Handel's Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno in Jurgen Flimm's staging.
He has been involved in the musical activities of the Château de Chimay (Belgium) since 2002. He has been responsible for the accompaniment of the singers competing in the Baroque voice competitions, and has performed in the Theater of the Château.
Mr. Vinikour performed harpsichord (dubbed for Gwyneth Paltrow) playing Jacques Duphly's Courante, and Marc-Antoine Charpentier's In Hoc Festo for Saint-Denis Church's scene, in the 1995 Merchant Ivory film, Jefferson in Paris. He also performed in William Klein's film Messiah with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre.
He has recorded Bach's Goldberg Variations in 2002 and seven harpsichord toccatas (BWV 910-916) in 1999. He performs (on a restored Pleyel harpsichord) in a recording of Frank Martin’s Petite symphonie concertante with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Armin Jordan. He recorded of the four harpsichord suites of Bernard de Bury in 2006. His recording of the 1720 Suites of George Frideric Handel will be released in 2008.
Mr. Vinikour teaches harpsichord at the Austrian Baroque Academy (Gmunden), and was their guest director for the 2008 session.