Academy 2019 Guest Artists and Lecturers
Alexei Lubimov
Born in Moscow in 1944, Alexei Lubimov is one of the most strikingly original and outstanding pianists performing today. His large repertoire combined with his dedication to principle and musical morals make him a notable exception in today’s music scene.
Following studies at the Moscow Conservatory, Lubimov early in life established a dual passion for Baroque music performed on traditional instruments and for 20th century composers. He premiered many 20th century pieces in Russia, where Soviet authorities heavily criticized his commitment to Western music and prevented him from leaving the Soviet Union for years. Lubimov therefor concentrated on working with period (original) instruments of the 16th and 17th centuries, and founded the Moscow Baroque Quartet and the Moscow Chamber Academy. He continues to perform both ‘old’ and ‘new’ music on his many recordings, and also records classical and romantic repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Political restrictions were lifted during the 1980’s, and Lubimov soon emerged among the first rank of international pianists, performing on tour in Europe, North America and Japan. He made his U.S. debut in 1991 as soloist with Andrew Parrott and his Classical Band in New York, and performs with the world’s most important international conductors, including Hogwood, Nagano and Norrington. He has given historic performances with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Wiener Akademie and the Collegium Vocale Gent. In recent seasons he has toured with the Haydn Sinfonietta and with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana playing Mozart concertos, Haydn with the Camerata Salzburg, and Beethoven concertos with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment.
Lubimov’s numerous recordings have been issued on the Melodia, Erato, BIS, Sony. ECM and Harmonia Mundi labels, including repertoire by Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin and Brahms and the much praised complete Mozart piano sonatas on fortepiano for Erato. Since 2003 he has recorded regularly for ECM, producing CDs of Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert. In December 2015 Alexei Lubimov became the first recipient of a new Cage Cunningham Fellowship administered through the Baryshnikov Arts Center.
2010 - present
Sandra Rosenblum is the author of Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music (1988), described as “a monumental achievement; thorough, objective, balanced, and imaginative” (Journal of Musicological Research). The work has subsequently been translated into Korean and Italian. Since then she has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on piano performance practice; and she has been an inspiring influence on a generation of fortepianists worldwide. More recently her work has been focused on Chopin and the pianos of his time. She has lectured extensively at universities and conferences across the US and in Europe. Rosenblum has been the recipient of fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute and the American Council of Learned Societies, and winner of the Wilk Prize in 1999 for her article “Chopin’s Music in Nineteenth-Century America: Introduction, Dissemination, and Aspects of Reception".
2010 - present
Sandra Rosenblum
Kate Bennett Wadsworth
Kate Bennett Wadsworth is a cellist devoted to historical performance of all periods, with a special research interest in 19th-century performance practice. She has appeared at festivals throughout North America and Europe with baroque ensembles such as Arion, Tafelmusik, B’Rock, Apollo’s Fire, Aradia, Masques, and the Theatre of Early Music, and her continuo playing can be heard on the Naxos, ATMA, Artemis/Vanguard, and early-music.com labels. As a soloist, she has appeared with Arion Baroque Orchestra, Les Bostonades, Norwich Baroque, and Les Goûts Réunis Luxembourg, and her recording of the CPE Bach A minor concerto with Les Bostonades was released in 2015.
Kate studied modern cello with Laurence Lesser at the New England Conservatory and baroque cello with Jaap ter Linden at the Royal Dutch Conservatory in the Hague, after completing a bachelor’s degree in Scandinavian studies at Harvard College. She has recently completed a practice-led PhD under Clive Brown at the University of Leeds, looking at the notoriously marked-up editions of the cellist Friedrich Grützmacher as a window onto 19th-century performance practice. Drawing on similarly marked-up editions, as well as treatises, memoirs, early recordings, and other historical sources, she has also prepared annotated editions of the Brahms cello sonatas, in collaboration with Clive Brown and Neal Peres da Costa and published by Bärenreiter. Her recording of the Brahms sonatas with pianist Yi-heng Yang will be released on the Deux-Elles label this month.
Cynthia Roberts is one of America’s leading period instrument violinists, appearing as soloist, concertmaster, and recitalist throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. She is a faculty member of the Juilliard School. She specializes in classical chamber music performance with historic keyboards and has performed throughout the world with fortepianist Christoph Hammer. She appears regularly with the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Tafelmusik, and the Boston Early Music Festival and is a principal player in the Carmel Bach Festival. She has performed as concertmaster of Les Arts Florissants with William Christie and appeared with Orchester Wiener Akademie, the London Classical Players, and the Bach Collegium Japan. She was featured as soloist and concertmaster on the soundtrack of the Touchstone Pictures film Casanova, and accompanied soprano Renee Fleming on Late Night with David Letterman. Ms. Roberts also teaches at the University of North Texas and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute and has given master classes worldwide.
Cynthia Roberts
Pianist David Breitman directs the Historical Performance Program at Oberlin College, teaching fortepiano, clavichord, and performance practice. His discography includes Beethoven’s violin and cello sonatas, Mozart’s violin sonatas, and four CDs with the late baritone Sanford Sylvan, with whom he partnered in recital for over 30 years. He has recently published a book titled Piano-playing revisited: What Modern Players Can Learn from Period Instruments. (University of Rochester Press).