Kenneth Hamilton on Chopin – Lecture
Tuesday, June 27, 2023 9am
About this Event
1314 Miller Dr, Coral Gables, FL 33146
Lecture 1: June 26th at 7:30pm
Kenneth Hamilton has been described as a "pianist, author, lecturer and all-round virtuoso" (The Guardian). His wide range of recordings and active career as a writer have garnered him critical acclaim. Author of the best-selling book After the Golden Age: Romantic Pianism and Modern Performance, Hamilton will present lectures open to the public focusing on the music of Chopin and its interpretation. More details about the first lecture:
- Chopin as Teacher: New Insights from the letters of Friederike Müller -
The relatively recent publication of the copious letters of Chopin’s student Friederike Müller (1816-95), dedicatee of the Concert Allegro op.46, offers us a much more vivid picture of Chopin’s Parisian milieu, teaching methods, and aesthetic opinions than hitherto available. Not only are these letters exceptionally detailed, but they are also immediate: composed directly after the events recounted, and therefore very different from the many hazy reminiscences written decades later. And they contain several surprises, not least in respect of Chopin’s engagement with contemporary piano music.
Lecture 2: June 27th at 9;00am
Kenneth Hamilton has been described as a "pianist, author, lecturer and all-round virtuoso" (The Guardian). His wide range of recordings and active career as a writer have garnered him critical acclaim. Author of the best-selling book After the Golden Age: Romantic Pianism and Modern Performance, Hamilton will present lectures open to the public focusing on the music of Chopin and its interpretation. More details about the second lecture:
- Whose Chopin? Chopin performance-practice in the later 19th century -
While some of Chopin’s students attempted to preserve what they regarded as an „authentic“ performance tradition after the composer’s death, other traditions were already developing that would not simply rival, but to some extent supplant this. Of particular significance were the playing and teaching of Franz Liszt, Clara Schumann, and Ferruccio Busoni, whose starkly divergent views on appropriately „Chopinesque" performance are to some extent still with us today.
