Michael Kieran Harvey
Michael Kieran Harvey (born 7 July 1961) is an Australian pianist whose career has been notable for its diversity and wide repertoire. He is renowned for commissioning, performing and composing new music. He has especially promoted the works of Australian composers, such as Carl Vine, most of whose piano music he has recorded and much of which was written for him. He is also particularly associated with the piano music of Olivier Messiaen.
According to critic Clive O'Connell in The Age[1]: "Few Australian pianists can touch Michael Kieran Harvey, one of the most exciting exponents of contemporary music in the country".
Biography
Family
Michael Kieran Harvey was born in Sydney in 1961. He says that as a child he had great difficulty in coming to terms with being a musician, as he played four different codes of football and was also involved in surf lifesaving.[2] His brother Dominic Harvey was head of brass at the Australian National University and is a noted conductor; his sister is the pianist Bernadette Harvey-Balkus;[3] and his other sister Rowan Harvey-Martin is a violinist and noted conductor.[4][5] His mother Anne (a student of Alexander Sverjensky) had to abandon plans to become a concert pianist when her father died in her mid-teens; and his father Francis was a journalist and for a time a freelance cellist.[2] He is married to pianist Dr Arabella Teniswood-Harvey.
Background
Michael studied piano at the Canberra School of Music with Alan Jenkins, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under Gordon Watson, and at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, under Sándor Falvai. He first came to international prominence by jointly winning[6] with Edith Chen the 1993 International Solo Piano Competition founded by Ivo Pogorelić in Pasadena, California, in which he performed Carl Vine's Piano Sonata No. 1. At the time, this was the world's richest piano competition. He entered the competition not believing he could win, but as an excuse to go to Los Angeles to see Frank Zappa, who was very ill, and to seek permission to play his piano music in public. However, Zappa died on the day of the finals and Harvey did not meet him. His manager from Columbia Artists Management was Ronald Wilford, who was Glenn Gould’s manager, and at that stage Ivo Pogorelić's own manager.
Career
He has premiered many new Australian concertos by composers such as Yitzhak Yedid, Carl Vine, Nigel Westlake, Paul Grabowsky, Larry Sitsky, Barry Conyngham, Don Kay, James Hullick, Adam Simmons, Eve Duncan, Simon Barber and Cathy Applegate. He has given Australian premieres of important international works by Louis Andriessen, Stefan Wolpe, Donald Martino, Frank Zappa, Jon Lord (of Deep Purple), Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Beat Furrer and Milton Babbitt.
Michael Kieran Harvey has worked with conductors such as Edo de Waart, Reinbert de Leeuw, Diego Masson, Markus Stenz and Kristjan Järvi, and has collaborated with the Arditti Quartet, the Netherlands and Luxembourg Philharmonics, the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble, Jon Lord, Keith Emerson, Absolute Ensemble and Paul Grabowsky. He regularly appears as soloist with Australian symphony orchestras.
He has performed and recorded most of Olivier Messiaen's works involving piano to high critical acclaim. In 2005 he released a live 3-CD recording of the Australian premiere of the entire Catalogue d'oiseaux featuring Peter Cundall as narrator.
He has recorded Carl Vine's complete piano music (including the 12 Preludes of 2006), much of which was written for him. He commissioned Nigel Westlake’s Piano Sonatas I (1998) and II (2004) and Piano Concerto (2000) and gave the premiere performances. Harvey has commissioned and recorded major Australian piano cycles by Larry Sitsky, Keith Humble, Elliot Gyger, Mike Nock, Andriàn Pertout, Richard Vella, Alan Walker, John McCaughey, Graham Hair and Martin Friedel, and promoted major works by Helen Gifford, Mark Pollard, Kate Neal, Warren Burt, Eve Duncan, Kate Tempany, Tom Henry and Brett Dean.[7]
Compositions
Harvey holds a PhD in composition and has recorded much of his own music.[7]
| Elektra | piano with live electronics | 1992 |
| Toccata DNA | piano | 1993 |
| Toccata DNA | trio for percussion, flute and piano | 1993 |
| Addict | piano with live electronics | 1994 |
| Spindrift | piano with live electronics | 1995 |
| Kazohinia | French horn, singer, piano, synthesiser, CD and live electronics | 1997-8 |
| Play the piano drunk until the fingers begin to bleed a bit | electric piano and CD | 2002 |
| Miles away | electric piano and CD | 2002 |
| ...until the fingers begin to bleed... | amplified sextet (2 pianos, clarinet, viola, 2 electric guitars) | 2002 |
| Blood on the spinifex | suite of 12 movements for electric piano and CD | 2003 |
| Pink Nautilus | piano | 2003 |
| Piano Sonata No. 1 | piano | 2006 |
| Kursk | cello and piano | 2007 |
| 48 Fugues for Frank | cycle for piano/keyboards | 2009 |
| Makzurka | piano | 2011 |
| Etude for trumpet in C and piano | trumpet and piano | 2011 |
| Homage to Liszt | percussion and piano | 2011 |
| Fear | violin and piano | 2011 |
| Psychosonata (Piano Sonata No. 2) | piano | 2012 |
| City of Snakes | bass clarinet, drums, electric piano, bass | 2013 |
| Deus est fabula | clarinet, piano, violin | 2014 |
| N-Chromium | keyboards and rock ensemble | 2014 |
| Deaths Head Mandala | synthesiser, electric guitar and rock ensemble | 2014 |
| The Ride of the Little Star | piano | 2014 |
| Patañjali | suite of five movements for two keyboards and percussion | 2015 |
| Carpe Diem | piano | 2015 |
| "7" | baritone saxophone and piano | 2015 |
| "7" | alto saxophone and keyboards | 2016 |
| Portrait of Bob Brown | violin and piano | 2016 |
| Piano Sonata No. 3 "Aporia" | piano | 2016 |
| Homage to Liszt | violin and piano | 2016 |
| Homage to Liszt | solo piano | 2017 |
| The Green Brain | cycle of 20 movements for piano/keyboards | 2017-18 |
| Tubby the president | tuba and piano | 2018 |
| Module Fugue | piano | 2018 |
| Keen | piano | 2018 |
| Piano Sonata No. 4 "A. Gramsci" | piano | 2018 |
Recordings
| "Michael Kieran Harvey plays Liszt, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin" | Liszt B minor sonata, Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit, Rachmaninoff Etudes Tableaux 1-3, Scriabin Vers la Flamme | CDPP1, 1991 |
| “Inspired 20th Century Piano Music” | Vine Sonata #1; Carter Sonata; Stravinsky Petrouchka; Graham Hair “Under Aldebaran” | CDPP2, 1992 |
| "Vine Piano Sonata #1" | Vine Sonata #1 | Tall Poppies TP 013, 1992 |
| "Piano Miniatures" | works by 42 Australian composers | Red House Editions, 1994 |
| "Anthology of Australian Music on Disc" | McSullea/Harvey, Music for flute, piano and computer-generated sound, Humble,Pollard, Walker, Yu, Banks, Worral and Burt | Canberra School of Music CD-CSM 18,1994 |
| “Threnody” | Harvey “Toccata DNA” and “Addict”; Vine 5 Bagatelles; Campbell “quaquaversal”; McCaughey 8 Preludes; Byrne “Within Stanzas”; Humble 8 Bagatelles; Anderson “Reveria” | Astra CD1, 1995 |
| “Expose” | Tahourdin | Move MD 3205, 1998 |
| “Vers La Flamme” | Scriabin | Deutsche Grammophon 441 969-2, 1998 |
| “Vingt Regards sur L’enfant Jesus” | Messiaen | ABC Classics double CD, ABC 462 767-2,1999 |
| "A Handful of Rain " | Pollard | Move MD 3218, 1999 |
| "Piano Concerto #1" | Carl Vine | ABC Classics ABC 456 698-2, 2000 |
| "Vine Piano Sonata #2" | Carl Vine | Tall Poppies TP 120, 2000 |
| “Storm Sight” | Vine sonatas 1 & 2; Zappa “Ruth is Sleeping”; Macek “Small Leaps”; Dargaville “Alba” | ABC 461 723-2, 2001 |
| "Recital - Australian Art Song" | Merlyn Quaife accompanied by Michael Kieran Harvey | Tall Poppies TP 155, 2002 |
| "Rabid Bay" | Westlake sonata #1, Whiffen sonata #2, Dargaville "Negra", Tempany "The promise of Water", Harvey "Pink Nautilus", Vine "Rash", Neal "Rabid Bay" | Move MD3288 2004 |
| "Tensile Flame" | Liszt sonata plus 20th Century piano music | Move double CD MD3286 2004 |
| "Catalogue d'oiseaux" | Messiaen with narration by Peter Cundall | Move triple CD MD3299 2005 |
| "As all the Heavens were a Bell" | "The Waves" by Martin Mackerras | Martin Mackerras 2005 |
| "The Music of David Joseph vol.2" | Piano Concerto, Chamber Concerto, Rhapsody | Move MD3302 2006 |
| "American Violin and Piano music" | Miwako Abe accompanied by Michael Kieran Harvey | New World Records 80641-2 2006 |
| "Shostakovitch/Messiaen" | Shostakovitch preludes op 34 and piano sonata #1, Messiaen 8 preludes | Move MD3308 2006 |
| "The Hinchinbrook Riffs" | Westlake sonata #1 | Tall Poppies 187 2006 |
| "The Way of The Seeker" | piano cycle by Larry Sitsky | Move MD3309 2006 |
| "The Piano Music of Carl Vine 1990-2006" | Vine sonatas 1&2, bagatelles, Preludes, Red Blues | Tall Poppies 190 2006 |
| "In the Time of Sakura" | The Piano Music of Mike Nock | Move MD3314 2007 |
| "Crystal Vision" | The Piano Music of Kanako Okamoto | Move MD3319 2007 |
| "Broadway Boogie" | Westlake (sonata #2), Byrne (6 Dances 2002), McCaughey (Toccata), Pollard (sonata 2006), Harvey (Sonata #1) and Ford (Broadway Boogie-Woogie) | Move MD3315 2007 |
| "Curiosities" | Eve Duncan: Wave to the Depths I & II | Move MD3320 2007 |
| "The School of Natural Philosophy" | Friedel " The School of Natural Philosophy", Knehans "Boyd Panels", Hair 3 Transcendental etudes, Paredes "Triptico", Meale/Harvey "Coruscations II" (for electric piano) | Move MD 3324 2008 |
| "Dimensions of Night" | Piano Cycle of 10 movements by Larry Sitsky | Move MD 3325 2009 |
| "Elektra" | Harvey - Elektra, Gould - 3 pieces for Piano, Gifford - Menin Gate, Ford - Folly,Yu - Sonata | Move MD 3329 2009 |
| "48 Fugues For Frank" | Piano Cycle - Homage to Zappa - by M.K.Harvey | Move MD 3339 2010 |
| "Astra 60" | Humble - Sonata no. 1, Gifford - Three Pieces, Pollard - Krebs, Boland - Two Miniatures, Henry - Piano Sonata, Whiffen - Sonata no. 3 | Move MD 3357 2012 |
| "Psychosonata" | original works by Michael Kieran Harvey 2007-13: "Psychosonata" (Piano sonata #2), "Kursk" (cello and piano), "Fear" (violin and piano), "Makzurka" (piano), "Homage to Liszt" (percussion and piano), "Etude" (trumpet and piano), "City of Snakes" (bass clarinet, piano, bass and drums) | Move MD 3368 2013 |
| "Inferno" | cycle of 15 movements for Michael Kieran Harvey by Elliott Gyger (2013); with Compass variations (1994) (live recording) | Move MD 3376 2014 |
| "Siva" | Australian virtuoso piano music: Hanson - Sonata op. 12, Kerry - Sonata, Colbert - "Quicksand", Gifford - "Siva", Kelly - Untitled (Moths) | Move MD 3397 2015 |
| "Patañjali" | a celebration of Patañjali's Yoga-Sūtra in music and āsana: composed for 2 keyboards and percussion by Michael Kieran Harvey 2015 | Move CD/DVD MD 3399 2015 |
| "126 Variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" | the Young Person's Guide to Composition (2014) by Julian Yu | Move MD 3404 2016 |
| "70 More Variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" | from composers around the world (2014) Julian Yu (ed.) | Move MD 3405, 2016 |
| "The piano music of Michael Bertram" | Piano Sonata and other works | Move MD 3407, 2016 |
| "Portrait of Bob Brown" | Portrait of Bob Brown for violin and piano (Harvey, 2016), Homage to Liszt for violin and piano (Harvey, 2016), Aftermath for solo violin (Emily Sheppard, 2016) | Move MD 3415, 2017 |
| “Aporia” | Australian Piano Music: Harvey 3rd Piano Sonata “Aporia” (2016), works by David Harris, Allan Walker, Paul Grabowsky and Simon Barber | Move MD 3418, 2017 |
| "Concerto for Piano and Toy Band" | Piano concerto with jazz/rock ensemble by Adam Simmons, performed by Michael Kieran Harvey and Adam Simmons' Toy Band | Fat Rain CD FAT016, 2017 |
| "The Green Brain" | Cycle of 20 movements by M. K. Harvey (2018) after the novel The Green Brain by Frank Herbert, with concrete poetry by Dr Arjun von Caemmerer | Move MD 3434, 2018 |
Legacy
In 2005 the Michael Kieran Harvey Scholarship was established and funded by Susan Mary Remington in honour of his contribution to Australian music, and to encourage future directions in keyboard art music. Recipients: 2006 - Cameron Roberts; 2008 - Ashley Hribar; 2010 - Zubin Kanga; 2012 - Aura Go and Adam Cook; 2014 - Dr James Hullick; 2016 - Alex Rainieri and Nicholas Young; 2018 - Rohan Drape.[7]
Honours
- Joint Grand Prix in the 1993 International Solo Piano Competition (usually referred to as the Ivo Pogorelić Piano Competition, after its founder) in Pasadena, with Edith Chen
- Debussy Medal (Paris 1985)[8]
- Finalist, Inaugural International Franz Liszt Piano Competition, Utrecht, Netherlands (1986)[9]
- Four consecutive Australian Mo Awards for best classical artist
- Awarded the Australian Government's Centenary Medal for services to Australian music (2002)
- Three times nominated for the Helpmann Award[10]
- His recordings are regularly nominated in the ARIAs and APRAs.
- APRA Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music (2009)
References
- ^ Age 22 October 2005
- ^ a b Ben Holgate, "Classical champion", Weekend Australian, 6–7 September 1999
- ^ Sunday, 20 April 2003 Archived 9 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The passion of the choir (pic), Ron Cerebona, Canberra Times, 31 March 2014
- ^ Classic encounters, Limelight, February 2008
- ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1994-01-01/entertainment/ca-7537_1_michael-kieran-harvey
- ^ a b c [1]
- ^ International Piano Competitions /Gustav A. Alink, p159
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 June 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Helpmann Awards
Sources
- Michael Kieran Harvey at the Australian Music Centre
- The Music Show with Andrew Ford
- move: Michael Kieran Harvey
- move: Catalogue d’oiseaux
- Recitals Australia, Media Information
- Sunday, 20 April 2003
- University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music
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