FORTEPIANO WORKSHOP

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, GREENSBORO

JULY 21–27, 2013

 

Malcolm Bilson (Cornell University)

Andrew Willis (University of North Carolina, Greensboro)

David Breitman (Oberlin Conservatory)

This week-long workshop is designed both for experienced fortepianists and for pianists with no prior experience with historical instruments. An unusually broad selection of pianos will be available, including an 1848 Pleyel, an 1841 Bösendorfer, an 1815 Dulcken replica, a 1790s Walter replica, a 1770s Stein replica, a 1787 Broadwood square, a 1730s Florentine replica, and others. Every participant will work with each of the three teachers, and the informal atmosphere will encourage lively discussions. Performances will showcase the work of the instructors and participants. A limited number of auditors may be accepted; these individuals will be able to attend all events except private lessons but will not receive lessons or perform.

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is known for innovative programs surrounding the piano, sponsoring the biennial “Focus on Piano Literature” symposium and offering degrees in keyboard performance at all levels that may focus on piano, organ, fortepiano, and/or harpsichord.

Accommodations will be available in comfortable, air conditioned dorms on campus, and meals may be handled “a la carte” at a large variety of local eating establishments.

If you would like to register for this workshop please contact Andrew Willis at aswillis@uncg.edu to see if there is still space.

As the workshop is sponsored by the Westfield Center, every participant will receive a year’s membership in the Center, which includes the current issue of the journal Keyboard Perspectives as well as reduced rates for other Westfield events.

 

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Both Andrew Willis and David Breitman received the DMA in Eighteenth-Century Performance Practice, studying fortepiano performance with Malcolm Bilson at Cornell University. All three artists are featured on the 10-CD set of the complete Beethoven sonatas on period instruments released by CLAVES in 1995.

Malcolm Bilson has been at the forefront of the period-instrument movement for over thirty years. A member of the Cornell Music Department since 1968, he began his pioneering activity in the early 1970s as a performer on late 18th- and early 19th-century pianos. A leader in the restoration of the fortepiano to the concert stage and to recordings, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Bard College and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His educational videos “Knowing the Score” and “Performing the Score” elucidate issues of notation and interpretation essential to the informed performance of 18th and 19th-century music.

Andrew Willis performs on pianos of all periods. He has recorded vocal and chamber music with many artists and solo works ranging from Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata to Martin Amlin’s Sonata No. 7 (1999). A past president of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society, Willis holds degrees from Curtis, Temple, and Cornell and is a Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he directs the biennial Focus on Piano Literature.

David Breitman directs the Historical Performance Program at Oberlin, where he teaches fortepiano and clavichord. He has recorded the Mozart piano/violin sonatas with Jean-François Rivest for the Analekta label, and the Beethoven piano/violin sonatas with Elizabeth Wallfisch for Nimbus (forthcoming). He is currently working on a book, Time Travel for Pianists: How Today’s Players Can Learn from Yesterday’s Instruments.