 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Leon Kirchner Memorial Concert: A celebration of his life in music
2009-2010 Season |
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 11:00 AM Miller Theatre |
|
Special Events Claremont Trio Orion String Quartet Richard Kogan, piano Lynn Chang, violin Yo-Yo Ma, cello Lisa Kirchner Carlton Holmes, piano Marcus McLaurine, bass
THIS EVENT HAS ALREADY OCCURED IN A PREVIOUS SEASON! This memorial concert celebrates Leon Kirchner, the remarkably gifted pianist, conductor, and composer. Seating for the general public will be available on the day of the event beginning at 10:30AM. * * * For Leon Kirchner (1919-2009), music was his motivation. His remarkable life and illustrious career as an influential composer, a renowned pianist, an esteemed conductor, and a beloved teacher is celebrated by all who came to know and love the man and the artist. Kirchner’s music continues to be performed by generations of musicians. Most recently The Boston Symphony Orchestra premiered his final work, The Forbidden, in October of 2008, and in January of 2009 New York City’s Miller Theatre, in honor of Kirchner’s 90th birthday, presented a retrospective concert of his work. Kirchner’s first published work was Duo in 1947. Kirchner has made an indelible mark on contemporary music through his own remarkable style—in his words, “an artist must create a personal cosmos, a verdant world in continuity with tradition...powered by conviction and necessity.” Like Arnold Schoenberg, his mentor, Kirchner weaved the past and the present, creating music that masterfully conveys our contemporary world. Extraordinarily gifted as both a pianist and a conductor, Kirchner was first and foremost a composer. A member of the American Academies of Arts & Letters and Arts & Sciences, he was honored twice by the New York Music Critics’ Circle (First and Second String Quartets), and received the Naumburg Award (Piano Concerto No. 1), the Pulitzer Prize (Third Quartet with electronic tape), the Friedheim Award (Music for Cello and Orchestra), and commissions from, among others, the Ford, Fromm, and Koussevitzky Foundations, the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Symphony, Spoleto and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festivals, the Boston Symphony, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. He was composer-in-residence and a performer at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Tanglewood Music Center, Tokyo Music Today (Takemitsu Festival), and the Spoleto, Charleston, Aldeburgh, and Marlboro Music Festivals. A beloved teacher, coach, and mentor, Leon Kirchner received an honorary doctorate from Harvard Univeristy in 2001. In May of 2009, Leon Kirchner was awarded the American Academy of Arts & Letters Gold Medal for his lifetime contribution to the musical arts. Taken from a quote in the novel Dr. Faustus by Thomas Mann, the title of Kirchner’s final work,The Forbidden, references a warning by the Devil to the novel's protagonist, who has sold his soul in exchange for 24 years as a great composer: “Every better composer bears within him a canon of what is forbidden, of what forbids itself, which by now embraces the very means of tonality, and thus all traditional music.” This diabolic advice to avoid the past became a challenge to Kirchner and is a mark of his personal, “verdant” world. To him, “it was a seductive idea, one that I have been pursuing of late, to possibly reveal the necessary intimacies between the past and present, which keep the art of music alive and well.” As evidenced by this final chapter in his prolific oeuvre, Leon Kirchner’s place in the history of music will most certainly endure. His passionate artistry, his unfailingly unique musical voice, and his profound influence will forever shape the future of music and the lives of those who have come to know him. |
 |
| Ticket Price: Free - No tickets required |
| To order tickets by phone: |
| To order tickets by mail: Print and mail this form |
| To order tickets online: |
