is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.

Biography

Early years

Seiji Ozawa was born on September 1, 1935 to Japanese parents in the city of Shenyang, Manchukuo in what is now northeastern China. When his family returned to Japan in 1944, he began studying piano with Noboru Toyomasu, heavily studying the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. After graduating from the Seijo Junior High School in 1950, Ozawa sprained his finger in a rugby game. Unable to continue studying the piano, his teacher at the Toho Gakuen School of Music (Hideo Saito), brought Ozawa to a life-changing performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, which ultimately shifted his musical focus from piano performance to conducting.

International success

Almost a decade after the sports injury, Ozawa won the first prize at the International Competition of Orchestra Conductors in Besançon, France. His success in France led to an invitation by Charles Münch, then the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, to attend the Berkshire Music Center (now the Tanglewood Music Center). In 1960, shortly after his arrival, Ozawa won the Koussevitzky Prize for outstanding student conductor, Tanglewood's highest honor. Receiving a scholarship to study conducting with famous Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan, Ozawa moved to West Berlin. Under the tutelage of von Karajan, Ozawa caught the attention of prominent conductor Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein then appointed him as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic where he remained for the next four years. While with the New York Philharmonic, he made his first professional concert appearance with the San Francisco Symphony in 1962.

In December 1962 Ozawa was involved in a controversy with the prestigious Japanese NHK Symphony Orchestra when certain players, unhappy with his style and personality, refused to play under him. Ozawa went on to conduct the rival Japan Philharmonic Orchestra instead. From 1964 to 1971, Seiji Ozawa served as the first music director of the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

He was music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1970 and of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1969 to 1976. In 1972, he led the San Francisco Symphony in its first commercial recordings in a decade, recording music inspired by William Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet''. In 1973, he took the San Francisco orchestra on a European tour, which included a Paris concert that was broadcast via satellite in stereo to San Francisco station KKHI. He left San Francisco after a dispute with a players committee over granting tenure to two young musicians Ozawa had selected.

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Between the years of 1964 and 1973, he directed various orchestras until he became music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1973. His tenure at the BSO was maintained for 29 years, the longest tenure of any music director, surpassing the 25 years held by Serge Koussevitzky. Toward the end of Ozawa's tenure, he received strong criticism from the American critic and composer Greg Sandow, which led to controversy in the Boston press. Other critical commentary on Ozawa's tenure in Boston has been aired.

Premiering 20th century classical music

Ozawa has been an advocate of 20th century classical music, giving the premieres of a number of works including György Ligeti's ''San Francisco Polyphony'' in 1975 and Olivier Messiaen's opera ''Saint François d'Assise'' in 1983. He is noted to have somewhat of a photographic memory, as he is able to memorize the scores of large works such as the Mahler Symphonies.

Recent years

In 2001, Ozawa was recognized by the Japanese government as a Person of Cultural Merit.

In 2002, he continued to follow in Herbert von Karajan's footsteps, as he became principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera. Ozawa continues to play a key role as a teacher and administrator at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer music home that has programs for young professionals and high school students.

On New Year's Day 2002, Ozawa conducted an all-Strauss concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, programming the concert so it would have a nice flow and keep everyone's interest as they ushered in the New Year. In 2005, he conducted the Tokyo Opera Nomori's debut of Richard Strauss’ Elektra. Ozawa has received a significant amount of criticism, especially from Boston music critic Greg Sandow, as he reports that some BSO members claim that Ozawa gives "no specific leadership in matters of tempo and rhythm", providing no "expression of care about sound quality." Despite the criticism, Ozawa serves a musical role model: an Asian performer who has not only attained fame in the West but has also devoted his life to fostering a global community within classical music.

On February 1, 2006, the Vienna State Opera announced that he had to cancel all his 2006 conducting engagements because of illness, including pneumonia and shingles. He returned to conducting in March 2007 at the Tokyo Opera Nomori.

Ozawa stepped down from his post at the Vienna State Opera in 2010, to be succeeded by Franz Welser-Möst.

In October 2008, Ozawa was honored with Japan's Order of Culture; and an awards ceremony for the Order of Culture will be held at the Imperial Palace. He is a recipient of the 34th Suntory Music Award (2002) and the International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.

On January 7, 2010, Ozawa announced that he was canceling all engagements for six months in order to undergo treatments for esophageal cancer. The doctor with Ozawa at the time of the announcement said it was detected at an early stage.

He returned to work on July 26, 2010, but promptly suffered further setbacks with a lumbar hernia. In August 2011 he conducted Bartok's Blubeard's Castle with the with the Saito Kinen orchestra in Matsumoto, prior to a tour of China. After a single, successful performance, he withdrew once more with pneumonia . Doctors were hopeful of a prompt recovery.

Honorary degrees

Seiji Ozawa holds honorary doctorate degrees from Harvard University, the New England Conservatory, the University of Massachusetts, and Wheaton College.

Personal style

Ozawa became famous not only for his conducting mannerisms, but also his sartorial style: he wore the traditional formal dress with a white turtleneck rather than the usual starched shirt, waistcoat, and white tie.

Awards and honors

1958: Toho School of Music: 1st Prize in conducting and composition

1959: International Competition of Orchestra Conductors, Besançon, France

1960: Koussevitzky Prize for Outstanding Student Conductor, Tanglewood

1976: Emmy for "Evening at Symphony"

1992: Hans von Bülow Medal (given by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra)

1994: Emmy for "Dvořák in Prague"

1994: Inouye Award, Japan

1998: Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, France

2001: Membership in the Academic des Beaux-Arts de l'Institut de France (Given by French President Jacques Chirac)

2001: Person of Cultural Merit, Japan

2002: Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class (Given by Austrian President Thomas Klestil)

2003: Mainichi Art Award and Suntory Music Prize

2004: Honorary Doctorate from the Sorbonne University of France

2008: Order of Culture, Japan

2011: Praemium Imperiale, Japan

Recording labels

Sony BMG

RCA Victor

Philips

Deutsche Grammophon

Universal Music Group

EMI Classics

Teldec

Bibliography

''Seiji: An Intimate Portrait of Seiji Ozawa'' (Hardcover) by Lincoln Russell (Illustrator), Caroline Smedvig (Editor) ISBN 0-395-93943-7

References

External links

Sony Classical: Seiji Ozawa

The Jack Robinson Archives, images of Ozawa

Decca Classics, biography of Ozawa

Seiji Ozawa Says Farewell, NPR, July 14, 2002

International Music Academy – Switzerland

Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood

Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati (France Management) : Seiji Ozawa

Category:Japanese conductors (music) Category:Music directors (opera) Category:Music directors of the Vienna State Opera Category:Recipients of the Order of Culture Category:Prize-winners of the Besançon Conducting Competition Category:Toho Gakuen School of Music alumni Category:Japanese expatriates in Austria Category:Japanese expatriates in the United States Category:Japanese people from Manchukuo Category:Culture of Boston, Massachusetts Category:1935 births Category:Living people

ca:Seiji Ozawa de:Seiji Ozawa es:Seiji Ozawa fr:Seiji Ozawa ko:오자와 세이지 it:Seiji Ozawa he:סייג'י אוזאווה hu:Ozava Szeidzsi ms:Seiji Ozawa nl:Seiji Ozawa ja:小澤征爾 pl:Seiji Ozawa pt:Seiji Ozawa ro:Seiji Ozawa ru:Одзава, Сэйдзи simple:Seiji Ozawa fi:Seiji Ozawa sv:Seiji Ozawa uk:Одзава Сейдзі zh:小泽征尔

Carl Orff (July 10, 1895 – March 29, 1982) was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his cantata ''Carmina Burana'' (1937). In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.

Life

Early life

Orff was born in Munich on July 10, 1895. His family was Bavarian and active in the German military.

Orff started studying the piano at age five and also took organ and cello lessons. However, he was more interested in composing original music than in studying to be a performer. Orff wrote and staged puppet shows for his family, composing music for piano, violin, zither, and glockenspiel to accompany them. He had a short story published in a children's magazine in 1905 and started to write a book about nature. In his spare time he enjoyed collecting insects.

By the time he was a teenager, Orff was writing songs, although he had not studied harmony or composition; his mother helped him set down his first works in musical notation. Orff wrote his own texts and he learned the art of composing, without a teacher, by studying classical masterworks on his own.

In 1911, at age 16, some of Orff's music was published. Many of his youthful works were songs, often settings of German poetry. They fell into the style of Richard Strauss and other German composers of the day, but with hints of what would become Orff's distinctive musical language.

In 1911/1912, Orff wrote ''Also sprach Zarathustra'' (''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''), Op. 14, a large work for baritone voice, three choruses and orchestra, based on a passage from Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical novel of the same title. The following year, he composed an opera, ''Gisei, das Opfer'' (''Gisei, the Sacrifice''). Influenced by the French Impressionist composer Claude Debussy, he began to use colorful, unusual combinations of instruments in his orchestration.

World War I

Moser's ''Musik-Lexikon'' states that Orff studied at the Munich Academy of Music until 1914. He then served in the military in World War I, during which he was severely injured and nearly killed in a trench cave-in. Afterwards, he held various positions at opera houses in Mannheim and Darmstadt, later returning to Munich to pursue his music studies.

The 1920s

In the mid-1920s Orff began to formulate a concept he called "elementare Musik", or elemental music, which was based on the unity of the arts symbolized by the ancient Greek Muses (who gave music its English name) and involved tone, dance, poetry, image, design, and theatrical gesture. Like many other composers of the time he was influenced by the Russian-French émigré Igor Stravinsky. But while others followed the cool, balanced "neoclassic" works of Stravinsky, it was works like the composer's ''Les noces'' (''The Wedding''), a pounding, quasi-folkloric evocation of prehistoric wedding rites, that appealed to Orff. He also began adapting musical works of earlier eras for contemporary theatrical presentation, including Claudio Monteverdi's opera ''L'Orfeo'' (1607). Orff's German version, ''Orpheus'', was staged in 1925 in Mannheim, Germany, under Orff's direction, using some of the instruments that had been used in the original 1607 performance. The passionately declaimed opera of Monteverdi's era was almost unknown in the 1920s, however, and Orff's production met with reactions ranging from incomprehension to ridicule.

In 1924 Dorothee Günther and Orff founded the Günther School for gymnastics, music, and dance in Munich, where he was from 1925 until the end of his life the head of a department and where he worked with musical beginners. This is where he developed his theories in music education, having constant contact with children. In 1930, Orff published a manual titled ''Schulwerk'', where he shares his method of conducting. Before writing ''Carmina Burana'', Orff edited 17th century operas. Nevertheless, these various activities brought Orff very little money.

The Nazi era

Orff's relationship with German fascism and the Nazi Party has been a matter of considerable debate and analysis. His ''Carmina Burana'' was hugely popular in Nazi Germany after its premiere in Frankfurt in 1937. Given Orff's previous lack of commercial success, the monetary factor of ''Carmina Burana'''s acclaim was significant to him. But the composition, with its unfamiliar rhythms, was also denounced with racist taunts. He was one of the few German composers under the Nazi regime who responded to the official call to write new incidental music for ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' after the music of Felix Mendelssohn had been banned – others refused to cooperate in this. Defenders of Orff note that he had already composed music for this play as early as 1917 and 1927, long before this was a favour for the Nazi government.

Orff was a friend of Kurt Huber, one of the founders of the resistance movement ''Die Weiße Rose'' (the White Rose), who was condemned to death by the Volksgerichtshof and executed by the Nazis in 1943. Orff by happenstance called at Huber's house on the day after his arrest. Huber's distraught wife begged Orff to use his influence to help her husband, but Orff denied her request. If his friendship with Huber came out, he told her, he would be "ruined". Huber's wife never saw Orff again. Wracked by guilt, Orff would later write a letter to his late friend Huber, imploring him for forgiveness.

Post war

Following World War II, during his denazification process in Bad Homburg, Orff claimed to an American officer, Newell Jenkins (subsequently an orchestral conductor), that he had helped establish, and had been a member of, the White Rose resistance movement. There was no evidence for this other than his own word, and other sources dispute his claim. Canadian historian Michael H. Kater made in earlier writings a particularly strong case that Orff collaborated with Nazi authorities, but in ''Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits'' (2000) Kater rescinded his earlier accusations to some extent. Orff's assertion that he had been anti-Nazi during the war was accepted by the American denazification authorities, who changed his previous category of "grey unacceptable" to "grey acceptable", enabling him to continue to compose for public presentation, and to enjoy the royalties that the popularity of ''Carmina Burana'' had brought him.

Most of Orff's later works – ''Antigonae'' (1949), ''Oedipus der Tyrann'' (''Oedipus the Tyrant'', 1958), ''Prometheus'' (1968), and ''De temporum fine comoedia'' (''Play on the End of Times'', 1971) – were based on texts or topics from antiquity. They extend the language of ''Carmina Burana'' in interesting ways, but they are expensive to stage and (on Orff's own admission) are not operas in the conventional sense. Live performances of them have been few, even in Germany.

Personal life

He was married four times: Alice Solscher (m. 1920, div. 1925), Alice Willert (m. 1939, div. 1953), Luise Rinser (m. 1954, div. 1959) and Liselotte Schmitz (m. 1960). His only child Godela, from his first marriage, was born in 1921. She was later rejected by the composer. "He had his life and that was that," she tells Tony Palmer in the documentary ''O Fortuna''.

Death

When Carl Orff died in Munich in 1982 at the age of 86, he had lived through four epochs in the course of his life: the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and the post World War II West German Bundesrepublik. Orff was buried in the Baroque church of the beer-brewing Benedictine priory of Andechs, south of Munich. His tombstone bears his name, his dates of birth and death, and the Latin inscription "Summus Finis" (the ultimate goal).

Works

Musical work

Orff is most known for ''Carmina Burana'' (1937), a "scenic cantata". It is the first of a trilogy that also includes ''Catulli Carmina'' and ''Trionfo di Afrodite''. ''Carmina Burana'' reflected his interest in medieval German poetry. Together the trilogy is called ''Trionfi'', or "Triumphs". The composer described it as the celebration of the triumph of the human spirit through sexual and holistic balance. The work was based on thirteenth-century poetry found in a manuscript dubbed the ''Codex latinus monacensis'' found in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern in 1803 and written by the Goliards; this collection is also known as ''Carmina Burana''. While "modern" in some of his compositional techniques, Orff was able to capture the spirit of the medieval period in this trilogy, with infectious rhythms and easy tonalities. The medieval poems, written in Latin and an early form of German, are often racy, but without descending into smut. "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi", commonly known as "O Fortuna", from ''Carmina Burana'' is often used to denote primal forces, for example in the Oliver Stone movie ''The Doors.''. The work's association with fascism also led Pier Paolo Pasolini to use the movement "Veris Leta Facies" to accompany the concluding scenes of torture and murder in his final film ''Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom''.

With the success of ''Carmina Burana'', Orff disowned all of his previous works except for ''Catulli Carmina'' and the ''Entrata'' (an orchestration of "The Bells" by William Byrd (1539–1623)), which were rewritten until acceptable by Orff. Later on, however, many of these earlier works were released (some even with Orff's approval). As an historical aside, ''Carmina Burana'' is probably the most famous piece of music composed and premiered in Nazi Germany. ''Carmina Burana'' was in fact so popular that Orff received a commission in Frankfurt to compose incidental music for ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', which was supposed to replace the banned music by Mendelssohn. After the war, he claimed not to be satisfied with the music and reworked it into the final version that was first performed in 1964.

Orff was reluctant to term any of his works simply operas in the traditional sense. His works ''Der Mond'' (''The Moon'', 1939) and ''Die Kluge'' (''The Wise Woman'', 1943), for example, he referred to as "Märchenoper" ("fairytale operas"). Both compositions feature the same "timeless" sound in that they do not employ any of the musical techniques of the period in which they were composed, with the intent that they be difficult to define as belonging to a particular era. Their melodies, rhythms and, with them, text appear in a union of words and music.

About his ''Antigonae'' (1949), Orff said specifically that it was not an opera, rather a ''Vertonung'', a "musical setting", of the ancient tragedy. The text is an excellent German translation, by Friedrich Hölderlin, of the Sophocles play of the same name. The orchestration relies heavily on the percussion section, and is otherwise fairly simple. It has been labelled by some as minimalistic, which is most adequate in terms of the melodic line. The story of Antigone has a haunting similarity to the history of Sophie Scholl, heroine of the White Rose, and Orff may have been memorializing her in his opera.

Orff's last work, ''De Temporum Fine Comoedia'' (''Play on the End of Times''), had its premiere at the Salzburg Festival on August 20, 1973, performed by Herbert von Karajan and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and Chorus. In this highly personal work, Orff presented a mystery play, in which he summarized his view on the end of time, sung in Greek, German, and Latin.

''Gassenhauer'', which Orff composed with Gunild Keetman, was used as the theme music for Terrence Malick's film ''Badlands'' (1973). Hans Zimmer later reworked this music for his ''True Romance'' (1993) score.

Pedagogic work

In pedagogical circles he is probably best remembered for his Schulwerk (School Work). Originally a set of pieces composed and published for the Güntherschule (students ranging from 12 to 22), this title was also used for his books based on radio broadcasts in Bavaria in 1949. These pieces are collectively called Musik für Kinder [Music for Children], and also use the term "Schulwerk". The Music for Children volumes were not designed to be performance pieces for the average child. Many of the parts are challenging for teachers to play. They were designed as examples of pieces that show the use of ostinati, bordun, and appropriate texts for children. Teachers using the volumes are encouraged to simplify the pieces, write original texts for the pieces and modify the instrumentation to adapt to the teacher's classroom situation.

Orff's ideas were developed, together with Gunild Keetman, into a very innovative approach to music education for children, known as the Orff Schulwerk. The music is elemental and combines movement, singing, playing, and improvisation.

List of compositions

Lamenti

* ''Orpheus'' (1924, reworked 1939)

* ''Klage der Ariadne'' (1925, reworked 1940)

* ''Tanz der Spröden'' (1925, reworked 1940)

Entrata ''for orchestra, after "The Bells" by William Byrd'' (1539–1623) (1928, reworked 1941)

Orff Schulwerk

* ''Musik für Kinder'' (with Gunild Keetmann) (1930–35, reworked 1950–54)

Trionfi

* ''Carmina Burana'' (1937)

* ''Catulli Carmina'' (1943)

* ''Trionfo di Afrodite'' (1953)

Märchenstücke (Fairy tales)

* ''Der Mond'' (1939)

* ''Die Kluge'' (1943)

* ''Ein Sommernachtstraum'' (1952, reworked 1962)

Bairisches Welttheater (Bavarian world theatre)

* ''Die Bernauerin'' (1947)

* ''Astutuli'' (1953)

* ''Comoedia de Christi Resurrectione'' (1956) – Easter Play

* ''Ludus de Nato Infante Mirificus'' (1961) – Nativity play

Theatrum Mundi

* ''Antigonae'' (1949)

* ''Oedipus der Tyrann'' (1959)

* ''Prometheus'' (1968)

* ''De Temporum Fine Comoedia'' (1973, reworked 1977)

References

Further reading

Michael H. Kater, "Carl Orff im Dritten Reich", ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'' 43, 1 (January 1995): 1–35.

Michael H. Kater, ''Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

External links

Carl Orff Foundation

Orff Center, Munich

Discography

Category:1895 births Category:1982 deaths Category:People from Munich Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Opera composers Category:German composers Category:People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Category:German music educators Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Category:Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Members of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art

ar:كارل أورف an:Carl Orff bar:Carl Orff bg:Карл Орф ca:Carl Orff cs:Carl Orff da:Carl Orff de:Carl Orff et:Carl Orff el:Καρλ Ορφ es:Carl Orff eo:Carl Orff fa:کارل ارف fr:Carl Orff gl:Carl Orff ko:카를 오르프 hy:Կարլ Օրֆ is:Carl Orff it:Carl Orff he:קרל אורף la:Carolus Orff lt:Carl Orff hu:Carl Orff arz:كارل اورف nl:Carl Orff ja:カール・オルフ no:Carl Orff pl:Carl Orff pt:Carl Orff ro:Carl Orff ru:Орф, Карл sl:Carl Orff sr:Карл Орф sh:Carl Orff fi:Carl Orff sv:Carl Orff th:คาร์ล ออร์ฟ tr:Carl Orff uk:Карл Орф zh:卡尔·奥尔夫

Martha Argerich (born June 5, 1941 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine concert pianist.

Early life

Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three (the provenance of the name Argerich is uncertain: some say it is Catalan, while others maintain it originates from Croatia). At the age of five, she moved to teacher Vincenzo Scaramuzza who stressed to her the importance of lyricism and feeling. Argerich gave her debut concert in 1949 at the age of eight. The family moved to Europe in 1955 where Argerich studied with Friedrich Gulda in Austria. Juan Perón, then the president of Argentina, made their decision possible by appointing her parents to diplomatic posts in the Argentine Embassy in Vienna. She later studied with Stefan Askenase and Maria Curcio. Argerich also seized opportunities for brief periods of coaching with Madeleine Lipatti (widow of Dinu Lipatti), Abbey Simon, and Nikita Magaloff . In 1957, at sixteen, she won both the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition, within three weeks of each other. It was at the latter that she met Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli whom she would later seek out for lessons during a personal artistic crisis at the age of twenty, though she only had four lessons with him in a year and a half. Her greatest influence was Gulda, with whom she studied for 18 months.

Professional career

Argerich rose to international prominence when she won the seventh International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1965, at age 24. In 1966, she debuted in the United States in the Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series. In the same year, she also made her first recording, including works by Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, Prokofiev, and Liszt, which received critical acclaim. In 1965, she recorded Chopin's Scherzo No. 3, Polonaise, Op. 53, and other short works in the later years.

Argerich has often remarked in interviews of feeling "lonely" on stage during solo performances. Since the 1980s, she has staged few solo performances, instead focusing on concertos and, in particular, chamber music, and accompanying instrumentalists in sonatas. She is noted especially for her recordings of 20th century works by composers such as Rachmaninoff, Messiaen and Prokofiev. One notable compilation pairs Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (recorded in December 1982 with the Radio Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under direction of Riccardo Chailly) with Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (February 1980, Symphonie Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Kirill Kondrashin).

Argerich is also famous for her interpretation of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, and Bach's Partita No. 2 in C Minor, which she has recorded several times and continues to perform.

Argerich has also promoted younger pianists, both through her annual festival and through her frequent appearances as a member of the jury at important competitions. The pianist Ivo Pogorelić was thrust into the musical spotlight partly as a result of Argerich's actions: after he was eliminated in the third round of the 1980 International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Argerich proclaimed him a "genius" and left the jury in protest. She has supported several artists including Gabriela Montero and Sergio Tiempo.

Argerich is president of the International Piano Academy Lake Como and performs each year at the Lugano Festival, Switzerland. She also created and has been General Director of the Argerich Music Festival and Encounter in Beppu, Japan, since 1996.

Her aversion to the press and publicity has resulted in her remaining out of the limelight for most of her career. Nevertheless she is widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of her time.

Personal life

Argerich has been married three times. Her first marriage was to composer-conductor Robert Chen, with whom she had a daughter, Lyda Chen, who is a violist. From 1969 to 1973, Argerich was married to conductor Charles Dutoit, with whom she had a daughter, Anna. Argerich continues to record and perform with Dutoit. Her third husband was pianist Stephen Kovacevich, with whom she had a daughter, Stephanie.

In 1990, Argerich was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. After treatment, the cancer went into remission, but there was a reoccurrence in 1995, eventually metastasizing to her lungs and lymph nodes. Following aggressive treatment at the John Wayne Cancer Institute, which included the removal of part of her lung and use of an experimental vaccine, Argerich's cancer went into remission again. In gratitude, Argerich performed a Carnegie Hall recital benefiting the Institute. As of 2010, Argerich remains cancer-free.

Awards

The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette 2005 Japan

Praemium Imperiale 2005 Japan

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra):

*Claudio Abbado (conductor), Martha Argerich and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for ''Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3'' (2006)

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:

*Martha Argerich and Mikhail Pletnev for ''Prokofiev (Arr. Pletnev): Cinderella Suite for Two Pianos/Ravel: Ma Mere L'Oye'' (2005)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)

*Charles Dutoit (conductor), Martha Argerich and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for ''Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3/Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3'' (2000)

Claudio Arrau Memorial Medal (1997)

International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition: 1st prize (1965)

Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition: 1st prize (1957)

Geneva International Music Competition: 1st prize (1957)

Gunchoo's Favourite Pianist Award

See also

Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Martha Argerich

Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Martha Argerich II

List of Argentines

References

External links

"Argerich--Discography," (August 11, 1999)

Ross, Alex; 'Madame X', November 12, 2001, a profile of Argerich in ''The New Yorker''

''Martha Argerich, evening talks'', the award-winning documentary film about Argerich by ''Georges Gachot'' - (imdb link)

Orga, Ates, ''River Plate Queen'' (1978, 2006), an interview with Argerich first published in the 1979 ''International Music Guide''

MUSIC FESTIVAL Argerich's Meeting Point in Beppu, a music festival sponsored by the Argerich Arts Foundation of Beppu, Japan

The Martha Argerich Project

Argerich Music news, concert schedule, articles, recordings

Argerich's repertoire through the years

Martha Argerich biography, CD and concert review by cosmopolis.ch

Martha Argerich Project Brings Talent to Lugano by ''Euro News'', June 15, 2009

Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Argentine classical pianists Category:Chopin Competition winners Category:Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires Category:People from Buenos Aires Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Classical piano duos Category:Prize-winners of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Jurors of the International Chopin Competition

ca:Martha Argerich cs:Martha Argerichová de:Martha Argerich et:Martha Argerich es:Martha Argerich fr:Martha Argerich gl:Martha Argerich ko:마르타 아르헤리치 it:Martha Argerich he:מרתה ארחריץ' la:Martha Argerich lb:Martha Argerich hu:Martha Argerich nl:Martha Argerich ja:マルタ・アルゲリッチ no:Martha Argerich oc:Martha Argerich pl:Martha Argerich pt:Martha Argerich ro:Martha Argerich qu:Martha Argerich ru:Аргерих, Марта sk:Martha Argerichová fi:Martha Argerich sv:Martha Argerich tr:Martha Argerich uk:Марта Аргеріх zh:瑪塔·阿格麗希

Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (5 August 1811, Metz – 12 February 1896, Paris) was a French composer, best-known for his operas ''Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet'' (1868, after Shakespeare) and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.

Biography

"There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas." - Emmanuel Chabrier

Early life and studies

Thomas's parents were music teachers. By the age of 10, he was already an experienced pianist and violinist. In 1828, he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Jean-François Le Sueur (who also taught Berlioz) while at the same time taking piano lessons privately from the famous virtuoso Frédéric Kalkbrenner. In 1832, his cantata ''Hermann et Ketty'' won the Conservatory's prestigious composition prize, the Grand Prix de Rome, which allowed him to travel to and study in that city for three years. He took with him a love for Mozart and Beethoven; but once in Rome, he became an ardent admirer of the Italian cantilena and melodic tradition. It was during his Italian sojourn that he wrote all of his chamber music: namely, a piano trio, a string quintet and a string quartet.

Career

The first opera Thomas composed, ''La double échelle'' (1837), was produced at the Opéra Comique and subsequently received 247 performances. ''Le caïd'' (1849), did still better, and achieved over 400 performances. For the next quarter of a century Thomas's productivity was incessant, and several of his operas (he wrote 24 altogether) enjoyed a considerable, if ephemeral, popularity. The questionable quality of their libretti hampers them, but a few have been revived now and then as historic curiosities or recorded as vehicles for ''bel canto'' singers, such as ''Le songe d'une nuit d'été'' (1850; loosely adapted from Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'') or ''Psyché'' (1857). The overture to ''Raymond'' (1851) has also been given the occasional modern performance.

To his theatrical successes, Thomas added administrative achievements. In 1856 he acquired a professorship at the Conservatoire, where he taught, among others, Jules Massenet, one of the few French composers of the younger generation whose music interested him. He succeeded Auber as director of the Conservatoire in 1871. Baffled by the musical unconventionality of César Franck, Gabriel Fauré, and certain other Conservatoire colleagues, he nevertheless was rather well liked as a man, even by those who found his output old-fashioned.

Success

With ''Mignon'' (premiered at the Opéra Comique in 1866), Thomas achieved his first great acclaim outside, as well as within, France. Goethe's celebrated ''Wilhelm Meister'' had provided inspiration for a highly sentimentalized libretto; Marie Galli-Marié (1840–1905), it was said , "had modelled her conception of the part upon the well-known picture by Ary Scheffer". ''Mignon'' was a success all over Europe, to audiences who had embraced Charles Gounod's indirectly Goethe-inspired ''Faust'' (1859); and in Paris ''Mignon'' received more than a thousand performances by 1894, thereby becoming one of the most successful operas in French history. It is still heard sometimes today, more often in the form of extracts for concert use, or in recordings, than in complete stagings. One of its arias, "Connais-tu le pays", was for generations among the most famous operatic excerpts by any composer.

Thomas turned to Shakespeare again for his ''Hamlet'' (Paris Opera, 1868), with a libretto by the seasoned team of Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. This opera has a strong, dramatic libretto, although it closes with a traditional (and, surprising for ''Hamlet'') happy ending. It enjoyed a long vogue, and like ''Mignon'' it continues to have a certain following; during 2010 it was heard at New York's Metropolitan Opera.

His last opera, ''Françoise de Rimini'' (Paris Opéra, 1882) based on a passage from Dante's ''Inferno'', failed to stay in the repertoire. Seven years later ''La tempête,'' a ballet (and yet another treatment of a Shakespeare play, this time ''The Tempest''), was produced at the Opéra, again with little effect. He died in 1896. Massenet had hopes of succeeding him in the job of Conservatoire director, abandoning this plan only when told by the government that the post would no longer carry lifelong tenure. The man who got the job was not Massenet but, rather, organist-composer Théodore Dubois.

Works

Operas

See List of operas by Ambroise Thomas

Ballets

''La gipsy'', second act ballet at the Opéra de Paris, 1839

''La tempête'', ballet, ("The Tempest", based on Shakespeare), 1889

Other works

String Quartet in e major, Op.1

References

;Cited sources

Composers: (Charles Louis) Ambroise Thomas

Some of the material in the above article appears on the website of Edition Silvertrust but permission to copy, distribute and alter has been given to Wikipedia under the terms of the GNU License in accordance with the GDFL.

;Other sources

Georges Masson, 1996. ''Ambroise Thomas'' (Metz: Editions Serpentoise)

External links

Ambroise Thomas String Quartet in e minor Soundbites & short biography.

Free scores by Ambroise Thomas in the loumy.org

Category:1811 births Category:People from Metz Category:1896 deaths Category:Romantic composers Category:French composers Category:Opera composers Category:Prix de Rome for composition Category:Academics of the Conservatoire de Paris Category:Alumni of the Conservatoire de Paris Category:Burials at Montmartre Cemetery, Paris

ca:Ambroise Thomas cs:Ambroise Thomas da:Ambroise Thomas de:Ambroise Thomas es:Ambroise Thomas eo:Ambroise Thomas fr:Ambroise Thomas ko:앙브루아즈 토마 it:Ambroise Thomas he:אמברואז תומא hu:Ambroise Thomas nl:Ambroise Thomas ja:アンブロワーズ・トマ pl:Ambroise Thomas pt:Ambroise Thomas ro:Ambroise Thomas ru:Тома, Амбруаз sl:Ambroise Thomas fi:Ambroise Thomas sv:Ambroise Thomas tr:Ambroise Thomas uk:Амбруаз Тома zh:昂布鲁瓦·托马

Krystian Zimerman (born December 5, 1956) is a Polish classical pianist who is widely regarded as one of the finest living pianists.

Biography

Zimerman was born in Zabrze, Poland, and studied at the University of Music in Katowice under Andrzej Jasiński. His career was launched when he won the 1975 Warsaw International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition. He performed with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan in 1976 and he made his debut in the United States with the New York Philharmonic in 1979. He has toured widely and made a number of recordings. Since 1996 he has taught piano at the Academy of Music in Basel, Switzerland.

Zimerman is best known for his interpretations of Romantic music, but has performed a wide variety of classical pieces as well. He has also been a supporter of contemporary music. For example, Witold Lutosławski wrote his piano concerto for Zimerman, who later recorded it. Amongst his best-known recordings are the piano concerti of Edvard Grieg and Robert Schumann with conductor Herbert von Karajan; the Brahms concerti with Leonard Bernstein, the piano concerti of Frédéric Chopin, one recording conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini and a later one conducted by himself at the keyboard; the Third, Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos of Beethoven under Bernstein (Zimerman himself led the accompaniment of the Vienna Philharmonic from the keyboard in Beethoven's First and Second Concertos); the first and second piano concerti of Rachmaninoff; the piano concerti of Franz Liszt with Seiji Ozawa, the piano concerti of Maurice Ravel with Pierre Boulez, and solo piano works by Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy and Franz Schubert. Recently, Zimerman recorded Brahms' ''Piano Concerto No. 1'' with Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Simon Rattle (DG 477 5413; Limited Edition DG 477 6021).

Criticism of US policy

Shortly after September 11, 2001, Zimerman's personal Steinway grand piano was confiscated at JFK Airport when he landed in New York City to give a recital at Carnegie Hall. US customs destroyed his piano, claiming the glue smelled like explosives. He had made a similar threat in 2006, stating he would not return until George W. Bush was out of office.

Personal Life

Zimerman lives with his wife and two children in Switzerland, where he has spent the greater part of his life. He divides his time between family, concerts, and performances of chamber music. When not touring or building pianos, he has been editing piano editions of the works of Władysław Szpilman for Boosey and Hawkes and wrote a piece on aesthetics, which was published in Poland in March 2005.

Awards

1975 International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition, Warsaw (First prize)

Léonie Sonning Music Prize (1994; Denmark)

References

External links

Krystian Zimerman discography

Krystian Zimerman fansite

Biography from Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra website

Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:International Chopin Piano Competition winners Category:People from Zabrze Category:Polish classical pianists Category:Polish music educators Category:Piano pedagogues

bg:Кристиан Цимерман ca:Krystian Zimmerman de:Krystian Zimerman es:Krystian Zimerman fr:Krystian Zimerman it:Krystian Zimerman he:כריסטיאן צימרמן nl:Krystian Zimerman ja:クリスティアン・ツィマーマン no:Krystian Zimerman pl:Krystian Zimerman pt:Krystian Zimerman ru:Цимерман, Кристиан fi:Krystian Zimerman sv:Krystian Zimerman uk:Кристіан Цимерман zh:克里斯蒂安·齐默尔曼