Rena Kyriakou (25 February 1917August 1994) was a

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, ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

born in Herakleion,

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

.Dubal, David (2004)
''The Art of the Piano: Its Performers, Literature, and Recordings''
p. 208. Amadeus Press.

Education

Rena Kyriakou revealed an early aptitude for the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and for composition, and gave her first public performance at the age of six in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, performing twelve original piano pieces. She studied first 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. ...

under Paul Weingarten and Richard Stöhr and then in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

under Henri Büsser and

Isidor Philipp Isidor Edmond Philipp (first name sometimes spelled Isidore) (2 September 1863 – 20 February 1958) was a French pianist, composer, and pedagogue of Jewish Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris. Biography Isidor Philipp ...

. At the age of sixteen, she was awarded the first prize for piano at the Conservatoire National de Paris.

Career

Kyriakou followed a dual career as pianist and composer. Her recorded legacy includes the complete piano music of Emmanuel Chabrier, whose works she played with idiomatic flair, and recitals of works by

John Field John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

Enrique Granados Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), commonly known as Enrique Granados in Spanish or ''Enric Granados'' in Catalan, was a Spanish composer of classical music, and concert pianist from Cat ...

and

Isaac Albéniz Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the post-romantic era who also had a significant influence on his con ...

. She recorded a major survey of the piano music of

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

. Her sound, both in recordings and in concert, was characterised by a wide palette of tone colour, as might be expected of a Philipp pupil. Some of the characteristic tone colour of her recordings is due to her use of a

Bösendorfer Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer and, since 2008, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Bösendorfer is unusual in that it produces Imperial Bösendorfer, 97- and 92-Key (instrument) ...

Imperial Concert grand piano for at least some of them, including her Mendelssohn recordings.

Death

She died in August 1994 in Athens.

Works

Her compositions include a piano concerto as well as solo piano pieces. Some of the more representative ones are the following: * ''6 Preludes symphoniques'', Op. 8 * ''Les Cloches and Burlesque'', Op. 9 * ''6 Preludes lyriques'', Op.12 * ''5 Preludes'', Op. 13 * ''Phantaisie'', Op. 14 * ''Perpetuum mobile'', Op. 15 * ''Deux pieces pour piano'', Op. 16 * ''Theme et Variations'', Op.17.See P. Kalligas, 'Introduction to Rena Kyriakou's compositions', ''Mousikos Logos'' 3 (2001), 152-167 (in Modern Greek)

References

1917 births 1994 deaths 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century Greek composers Greek classical pianists Greek women pianists Greek classical composers Women classical pianists 20th-century Greek women composers Greek expatriates in Austria Greek expatriates in France Musicians from Heraklion 20th-century women pianists {{classical-pianist-stub