Anton Emil Kuerti, OC (born July 21, 1938) is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n-born

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, music teacher, composer, and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. He has developed international recognition as a solo pianist.Kuerti, Anton
– The Canadian Encyclopedia

Early life

Kuerti was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. As a child, he immigrated to the United States and studied piano under Edward Goldman in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. Kuerti performed the Grieg Piano Concerto with the

Boston Pops Orchestra The Boston Pops is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in light classical and popular music. The orchestra's current music director is Keith Lockhart. Founded in 1885 as an offshoot of the Boston Symphony Orc ...

at age eleven. Kuerti studied music at the

Longy School of Music Longy School of Music of Bard College is a private music school in Cambridge, Massachusetts associated with Bard College. Founded in 1915 as the Longy School of Music, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston ...

, at the

Cleveland Institute of Music The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. The school was founded in 1920 by a group of supporters led by Martha Bell Sanders and Mary Hutchens Smith, with Ernest Bloch serving as its first dire ...

where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree,Festival of the Sound
The Canadian Encyclopedia and at the

Curtis Institute The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

. His teachers included

Arthur Loesser Arthur Adolph Loesser (August 26, 1894 – January 5, 1969) was an American classical pianist, musicologist, and writer. Early life Born into a musical family in New York City, Loesser received early piano training from his German-born father until ...

Rudolf Serkin Rudolf Serkin (28 March 1903 – 8 May 1991) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century. Early life, childhood debut, and education Serkin was born in ...

and Mieczysław Horszowski. He also studied at the age of 16 at The Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, with

Henry Cowell Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher, teacher Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 2022.C ...

; he later wrote an article, "Henry Cowell: Enfant Terrible of American Music", for the fall 1995 issue of ''Queen's Quarterly''. He won the Leventritt Award in 1957.

Career

Kuerti moved to Canada in 1965. He later joined the music faculty at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. One of his pupils at the university was pianist Jane Coop. Kuerti has toured extensively as a solo performer, performing in 150 communities throughout Canada and with every professional Canadian orchestra and many in the US and elsewhere. He has also recorded many albums. His recordings include all the

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

concertos and sonatas, the

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

sonatas, the

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

concertos, and works by many other composers. He won the 1976 Juno Award for best classical recording for his album ''The Beethoven Sonatas, Volumes 1, 2 and 3,'' and has been nominated 7 times. Kuerti has received nine honorary degrees: Hon. Doc. (hon) York University 1985; Laurentian University 1985; Cleveland Institute of Music 1996; Memorial University 2001; Dalhousie University 2002; McGill University 2004; Wilfrid Laurier University 2005; The University of Western Ontario 2007; Brandon University 2012. In 1980, he founded the

Festival of the Sound Festival of the Sound is an annual classical music festival that occurs from July to August in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada. Established in by Anton Kuerti, the festival's original artistic director, the annual festival was held in the auditori ...

, a classical music festival in

Parry Sound, Ontario Parry Sound is a town in Ontario, Canada, located on the eastern shore of the sound after which it is named. Parry Sound is located south of Sudbury and north of Toronto. It is a single-tier government located in the territorial District ...

. In 1998, he was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. In 2007 he was appointed to the special one-year Schulich Professorship at the

Schulich School of Music The Schulich School of Music (also known as Schulich) is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 555, Rue Sherbrooke Ouest (555, Sherbrooke Street West). The faculty was named after the ...

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

as visiting professor. In 2008 Kuerti received the

Governor General's Performing Arts Award The Governor General's Performing Arts Awards are an annual Canadian award, presented to honour distinguished achievements in Canadian performing arts and culture. Administered by the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation in associ ...

for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts. Kuerti is the artistic director emeritus of Mooredale Concerts, and of the Mooredale Youth Orchestras, a small Toronto-based set of three orchestras for children and teen-agers founded by his late wife, cellist Kristine Bogyo. In 2002, Kuerti directed The Czerny Music Festival in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, to showcase the work of Austrian composer

Carl Czerny Carl Czerny (; ; 21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin whose music spanned the late Classical and early Romantic eras. His vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works an ...

(1791–1857). The festival featured symphonies, masses, string quartets and quintets, works for piano and strings, songs and miscellaneous chamber works, composed by Czerny. On October 17, 2013, Kuerti was overcome by a stroke while playing a concert in Miami. He continues to recover.

Political views

A longtime peace activist, Kuerti signed a tax resistance vow in 1966 to protest the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and was registered as a conscientious objector. He was also the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

candidate in Don Valley North in the 1988 federal election. Kuerti, who is Jewish, went on record condemning

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's invasion of Gaza in 2009.

Honours

In 2016, he was made a member of the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the Advice (constitutional), advice of the Executive Council ...

. Kuerti has also received National Music League Award 1956; Philadelphia Orchestra Youth Prize, 1957; Leventritt Award 1957; Toronto Arts Award, 1997; Opus Award, Quebec 1998; The Banff Centre National Arts Award 2007; Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau, Germany 2007; Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal 2012.

Electoral record

References

External links

Anton Kuerti website

Video documentary ''Anton & the Piano''

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

(Requires

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuerti, Anton 1938 births Living people Canadian classical pianists Canadian male classical pianists Jewish classical pianists New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Members of the Order of Ontario Officers of the Order of Canada Austrian emigrants to Canada Musicians from Vienna Canadian people of Austrian descent Leventritt Award winners Cleveland Institute of Music alumni Longy School of Music of Bard College alumni Canadian male conductors (music) Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year – Solo or Chamber Ensemble winners Jewish Canadian musicians American tax resisters Buckingham Browne & Nichols School alumni 21st-century Canadian conductors (music) 21st-century Canadian male musicians Governor General's Award winners