Alfred Brendel Lectures and Gives Master Class at Yale

Published: November 2, 2009

Alfred Brendel

New Haven, Conn. — Yale School of Music will host two events with internationally renowned pianist Alfred Brendel on November 11–12.

On Wednesday evening at 8 p.m., Brendel will deliver a lecture, titled “On Character in Music,” as part of the Horowitz Piano Series at Sprague Hall, 470 College St. In his lecture, Brendel, who has retired as a full-time concert performer, will play musical examples from the works of Beethoven to illustrate his argument that atmosphere is just as important to interpreting and performing music as compositional technique. Beethoven’s works figure prominently in Brendel’s repertoire, and he contends that interpreting Beethoven’s music is a task akin to that of a character actor interpreting a role — noting that as the pianist becomes increasingly aware of the music’s emotional depth and psychological variety, so too does the audience.

On Thursday, at 10:30 a.m. Brendel will work with graduate pianists from the Yale School of Music in a public master class on the stage of Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall.

Tickets to the lecture are $11–$20 for the general public; $6 for students. Admission to the master class is $8 for the general public, free for full-time students with ID. For more information, visit the Yale School of Music website, music.yale.edu, or call (203) 432-4158.

Born in Wiesenberg, Moravia (the Czech Republic), Brendel grew up in Graz, Austria. Unlike other musical performers of his rank, Brendel was not a child prodigy nor was he from a family of musicians. In fact, he had little formal musical education. Nevertheless, he composed music and painted before he embarked on a career as a musician in his late teens.

Today, he is recognized the world over for his ability to communicate the emotional and intellectual depths of whatever music he performs. He has performed with virtually all leading orchestras and conductors, and has appeared in the major cultural centers of North America, Europe and Asia. Brendel is also one of the most prolific recording artists of all time, having for the past 30 years recorded exclusively for Philips Classics. His many prizes for his recordings include the Grand Prix du Disque, the Japan Record Academy Award, Gramophone’s Critics Choice, the Edison Prize, and the Grand Prix de l'Académie du Disque Français. In 2001, Brendel received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Cannes at MIDEM, the recording industry’s largest international fair.

Brendel is also a much-respected writer, who is well versed in the fields of literature, language, architecture and films. In addition to his latest books, “Alfred Brendel on Music” and “Ausgerechnet Ich” (“Me of All People”), he has published two collections of articles, lectures and essays, and is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. Brendel is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Oxford, London, Sussex and Yale universities. He is only the third pianist in history to be named an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic. His many awards include the Leonie Sonning Prize, the Furtwängler Prize for Musical Interpretation, London's South Bank Award, the Robert Schumann Prize, the Ernst von Siemens Prize and, most recently, “A Life for Music – the Artur Rubinstein Prize,” presented by the Artur Rubinstein Cultural Association of Venice, Italy. In 1989 he was appointed an honorary knight commander of the British empire by Queen Elizabeth II for outstanding services to music in Britain, where he has made his home since 1972.

PRESS CONTACT: Dorie Baker 203-432-8553