Susan Alexander-Max (died 26 January 2016) was an American-born British

fortepianist A fortepiano is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1700 up to the early 19th century. Most typically, however, it is used to ref ...

best known for her period performances of

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

and classical music. A graduate of the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named afte ...

, she later studied with

Ilona Kabos Ilona Kabos (7 December 189327 May 1973) was a Hungarian-British pianist and teacher. Biography Kabos was born Ilona Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Budapest in 1893 (some sources give her year of birth as 1894, 1898 or 1902). She studied at the ...

in London. She was a member of the period-instrument chamber group The Music Collection, with

Simon Standage Simon Andrew Thomas Standage (born 8 November 1941 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) is an English violinist and conductor best known for playing and conducting music of the baroque and classical eras on original instruments. Biography and ...

(

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

) and

Jennifer Ward Clarke Jennifer Ward Clarke (20 June 1935 – 1 March 2015) was a British cellist. After an early career in contemporary music, she later specialised in baroque music and performances on period instruments. Early life and career Jennifer Ward Clarke was ...

(

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

). She was also a professor of piano at the

Guildhall School of Music & Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with drama ...

Biography

Alexander-Max was born in New York City and recognised internationally as a leading fortepianist and clavichordist specialising in the music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Having graduated from the

, she won a scholarship to study with

in London. She was a finalist in the International Bach Competition and performed, recorded and taught extensively throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, the Far East and Europe. A featured performer on international radio and television, she has played, as soloist and chamber musician, in festivals, museums and galleries, universities and music colleges world-wide. Alexander-Max performed at the Cheltenham International Festival of Music, Queen's Festival of Early Music, Belfast, the English Haydn Festival, the Haydn Festival, Eisenstadt, Austria, the Vleeshuis Museum, Antwerp and the Prague Spring International Festival of Music. She was a frequent guest artist at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York City. A professor at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

in London until 1996, she directed the chamber ensemble, The Music Collection, and the educational project, Music in Schools. As a specialist in early keyboards, she gave masterclasses and lecture recitals internationally. She taught at universities in England, Ireland, the United States, and China, as well as the masterclass series at the Juilliard School of Music, New York City, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse, Paris, and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. As a recording artist, she performed the Chamber Music of Hummel, the Early Piano Sonatas of Clementi and the complete keyboard works of Domenico Zipoli, volume 2. This latter CD was recorded in conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, on their Cristofori fortepiano of 1720. The second in the series of Chamber Music by Hummel was awarded BBC's recommendation of the month. Her latest CD of Clementi Piano Sonatas was released, as well as the Concertos of Johann Christian Bach. Susan Alexander-Max died on 26 January 2016.

References

External links

The Music Collection website
* http://www.naxos.com/artistinfo/Susan_Alexander_Max/2750.htm

Biography

References

External links

See also