Leon Fleisher

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Leon Fleisher (born July 23, 1928) is an American pianist and conductor.

He was born in San Francisco, California, where he started studying the piano at age 4. He made his public debut at age 8 and played with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Monteux at 16; Monteux famously called him "the pianistic find of the century." He became one of the few child virtuosos to be accepted for study with Artur Schnabel, and also studied with Maria Curcio, the last and favourite pupil of Schnabel.[1][2]

He made a memorable series of recordings with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra before losing the use of his right hand due to focal dystonia. He continued performing the left-handed repertoire until he quite recently regained the use of his right hand through a combination of massage and botox injections. He also undertook conducting during this time, serving at one time as Music Director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra in Maryland. He is particularly well-known for his interpretations of the piano concerti of Brahms and Beethoven. In 2004, Vanguard Classics released Leon Fleisher's first "two-handed" recording in over 40 years, entitled "Two Hands", to critical acclaim. "Two Hands" is also the title of a short documentary on Fleisher by Nathaniel Kahn which was nominated for an Academy Award for best short subject on January 23, 2007. Fleisher received the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors. Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen A. Schwarzman described him as "a consummate musician whose career is a moving testament to the life-affirming power of art."

Fleisher's musical interests extend beyond the central German Romantic repertory. The American composer William Bolcom composed his Concerto for Two Pianos, Left Hand for Fleisher and his close friend Gary Graffman, who has also suffered from debilitating problems with his right hand. It received its first performance in Baltimore in April 1996. The concerto is constructed in such a way that it can be performed in one of three ways, with either piano part alone with reduced orchestra, or with both piano parts and the two reduced orchestras combined into a full orchestra.

In 2004, Leon Fleisher played the world premiere of Paul Hindemith's Klaviermusik (Piano Concerto for the Left Hand), Op. 29, with the Berlin Philharmonic. This work was written in 1923, for Paul Wittgenstein, but he did not understand it and refused to play it. However, he had sole performing rights, and he kept the score, not allowing any other pianists to play it. The manuscript was discovered among his papers after the death of his widow in 2002. On 2 October 2005, Fleisher played the American premiere of the work, with the San Francisco Symphony under Herbert Blomstedt.[3]

He has continued to be involved in music, both conducting and teaching at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto; he is also closely associated with the Tanglewood Music Center. As a teacher, Fleisher has carried on a tradition that descends directly from Beethoven himself, handed down generationally through Carl Czerny, Theodor Leschetizky, Artur Schnabel, Fleisher himself, and then to hundreds of Fleisher's own piano students over nearly half a century. His influence on classical pianists of the current day, especially in North America, is enormous. Today his students are among piano faculty members at major music schools. Also among his students are such renowned concert pianists as Jonathan Biss, Yefim Bronfman, Jeffrey Chappell, Naida Cole, Stewart Goodyear, Enrique Graf, Hélène Grimaud, Lorin Hollander, Bonnie Kellert, Kevin Kenner, Michael Lewin, Konstantin Lifschitz, Jean-Francois Latour, Louis Lortie, Danielle Martin, Oliver Schnyder, Michael Sheppard, Ana-Maria Vera, André Watts, Jack Winerock, and Daniel Wnukowski.

He is currently working on a memoir with the Washington Post music critic Anne Midgette.

Contents

[edit] Awards and Recognitions

Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Kennedy Center names 2007 honors recipients

Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition of Belgium

  • Leon Fleisher for piano (1952)

Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

"Instrumentalist of the Year", Musical America (1994)

Honorary doctorates from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Towson State University, The Boston Conservatory, and the Cleveland Institute of Music

Johns Hopkins University President's Medal.

Fleisher received the Kennedy Center Honors Award for 2007.[4]

[edit] Selected Discography

  • Mozart: Piano Concertos, including 2008 recordings of the Piano Concertos in A major, K. 414 and K 488, with Mr. Fleisher the soloist as well as conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and of the concerto K. 242 with Katherine Jacobson Fleisher (his wife) as second pianist. Sony BMG Masterworks, 2009.
  • Schubert: Sonata in B-flat major, D.960 / Ländler (original LP release 1956), Sony BMG Masterworks, 2008 (digital re-release)[5]
  • Debussy: Suite bergamasque / Ravel: Sonatine / Valses nobles et sentimentales / Alborado del gracioso (original LP release 1959), Sony BMG Masterworks, 2008 (digital re-release)
  • Mozart: Sonata in C major, K.330 / Sonata in E-flat major, K.282 / Rondo in D Major, K.485 (original LP release 1960), Sony BMG Masterworks, 2008 (digital re-release)
  • Liszt: Sonata in B minor / Weber: Sonata No. 4 in E minor, Op. 70 / Invitation to the Dance, Op. 65 (original LP release 1960), Sony BMG Masterworks, 2008 (digital re-release)
  • Copland: Piano Sonata / Sessions: From My Diary / Kirchner: Piano Sonata/Rorem: Three Barcarolles (original LP release 1963), Sony BMG Masterworks, 2008 (digital re-release)
  • Brahms: Quintet for Piano and Strings in F minor, Op. 34 (original LP release 1963), with the Juilliard String Quartet Sony BMG Masterworks, 2008 (digital re-release)
  • The Journey, Vanguard Classics, 2006
  • Leon Fleisher: Two Hands, (including a 2004 recording of Schubert: Sonata in B-Flat Major, D.960), Vanguard Classics, 2004
  • Schumann: Piano Concerto and Grieg: Piano Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra and Szell (original recordings 1960, remastered and reissued 2004 by Sony BMG)
  • Ravel, Prokoviev, Britten: Piano Works for the Left Hand, Sony Classical, 1993

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Guardian, 14 April 2009
  2. ^ Telegraph, 7 April 2009
  3. ^ Paul Hindemith's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Rejected by Its Dedicatee, Gets Its Belated US Premiere
  4. ^ "America to Celebrate Five Extraordinary Artists on Sunday, December 2, 2007". http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/honors/. 
  5. ^ "First Digital Release of Six Recordings by Eminent Pianist Leon Fleisher Previously Available Only on LP" July 22, 2008 [1]

[edit] External links

  • Leon Fleisher on The Marc Steiner Show [3]
  • Leon Fleisher on WYPR's Maryland Morning with Tom Hall [4]
  • Mary Bubala's feature story for WJZ-CBS TV on Fleisher receiving the Kennedy Center Honors. To view video: [5]
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