ARTISTIC WITNESSES 2008-2009
In collaboration with BOZAR MUSIC (Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels), the Orpheus Institute organises the "Artistic Witnesses" series. This series invites musical icons, who often perform at the Centre of Fine Arts, to reflect on their artistic practice. Last year´s edition focused on privileged witnesses with close links to prominent composers of the last century. Special attention was devoted to Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schönberg and Luigi Nono. This academic year the Orpheus Institute was most pleased to welcome musical icons Leon Fleisher and András Schiff !
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LEON FLEISHER |
This event took place on November 20, 2008
Leon Fleisher is considered one of the finest pianists of the 20th century. Unfortunately, a neuromuscular deficit in his right hand forced him to play single-handedly for a large part of his career. He therefore took up teaching, conducting and performing repertoire for the left hand only. Now, thanks to effective treatment, Leon Fleisher is back and plays with more passion than ever before. His recital at Bozar on Wednesday,19 November 2008 is definitely something no music lover could afford to miss. During this "Artistic Witness" lecture, we explored his findings about the creation of a music performance, more specifically about the interpretation of Ludwig van Beethoven´s work. A pupil of Arthur Schnabel, Leon Fleisher represents the link with a pianist generation that, until this very day, has a tremendous influence on the performance of the ‘classics´.
This artistic witness started out with an interview conducted by Dr. Paolo De Assis (researcher Orpheus Research Centre in Music), followed by an inspiring and memorable masterclass during which four students of the four departments of the Flemish colleges were given the opportunity to work with Leon Fleisher on a given composition.
The four students that were selected for the masterclass with Mr Fleisher were:
- Charlotte Pailhes (Royal Conservatory of Brussels) - Beethoven: sonate op. 10 nr 3 (1st movement)
- Stephanie Proot (Royal Conservatory of Antwerp) - Beethoven: Sonate Op 27 nr 1
- Bert Koch (Lemmensinstituut Leuven) - Beethoven: Sonate opus 53
- Colette Broeckaert (Royal Conservatory of Ghent) - Beethoven: Sonate Opus 110
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Biography Leon Fleisher |
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Video ´Leon Fleisher masterclass´. Is not available yet. |
Some pictures:
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ANDRÁS SCHIFF
"Joseph Haydn: piano music"
This event took place on February 13, 2009
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Hungarian-born pianist András Schiff decided to pay homage to Joseph Haydn for his BOZAR concert on 14 February 2009. The reflections and vision at the heart of his performance of this splendid repertoire were discussed during an "artistic Witness" lecture at the Orpheus Institute. András Schiff is one of those musicians who can articulate his opinions down to the finest detail and who never hesitates to use the piano to make his point. This allows him to open the door to an inspiring world for anyone who feels drawn to this music. András
Schiff has already collaborated with Orpheus Institute for the ‘Musician As Listener´ seminar, organised by the Orpheus Research Centre in Music in May 2007. The Orpheus Insittute was delighted to welcome him again for a fascinating and stimulating lecture.
András Schiff was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1953 and started piano lessons at the age of five with Elisabeth Vadász. Subsequently he continued his musical studies at the Ferenc Liszt Academy with Professor Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados, and in London with George Malcolm. Recitals and special cycles, i.e. the major keyboard works of J.S. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and Bartók form an important part of his activities. András Schiff has worked with most of the major international orchestras
and conductors. Since childhood he has enjoyed playing chamber music and from 1989 until 1998 was Artistic Director of the internationally highly praised "Musiktage Mondsee" chamber music festival near Salzburg. In 1995, together with Heinz Holliger, he founded the "Ittinger Pfingstkonzerte" in Kartause Ittingen, Switzerland. In 1998 Mr Schiff started a similar series, entitled "Hommage to Palladio" at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. From 2004 to 2007 András Schiff was Artist in Residence of the, Kunstfest Weimar. Last year András Schiff and the music publisher Günter Henle began an important Mozart edition project. In the course of the next few years there
will be a joint edition of Mozart´s Piano Concertos in their original version to which Mr Schiff is contributing the piano parts, the fingerings and the cadenzas where the original cadenzas are missing. Both volumes of Bach´s Well Tempered Klavier will be edited in the Henle original text with fingerings by András Schiff. András Schiff has been made an Honorary Professor by the Music Schools in Budapest, Detmold and Munich.
These ‘Artistic Witnesses´ with Leon Fleisher and András Schiff were organised in cooperation with BOZAR MUSIC. www.bozar.be