Tamar Halperin (born 1976) is an Israeli

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

ist, pianist and musicologist. She has played Baroque music in

historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

, but also classical repertory and jazz with a big band.

Career

Born in Tel Aviv, Halperin grew up in Israel and first pursued a career as a tennis player. She studied music at the Tel Aviv University and continued her studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with a focus on

. She obtained her PhD at the Juilliard School in New York City on Johann Sebastian Bach. She specialises in

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...

, but also pursues projects of contemporary music. She recorded with the jazz pianist

Michael Wollny Michael Wollny (born 25 May 1978) is a German jazz pianist and a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig. He has played with international musicians including Joachim Kühn, Tamar Halperin, Marius Neset, Andreas Schaerer, Ém ...

the album ''Wunderkammer'' which was awarded the Echo Jazz in the category piano album in 2010. She recorded a sequel, ''Wunderkammer XXL'', with Wollny and the hr-Bigband which was awarded the Echo Jazz in the category big band. She played harpsichord and

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...

with Wollny at the Jazzfest Bonn 2014. In 2011, she played works by Bach on the harpsichord at the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

Christophoruskirche in Wiesbaden-Schierstein, as part of the Rheingau Musik Festival. In 2012, Halperin recorded ''

Lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

er'' by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Brahms with her husband, the countertenor

Andreas Scholl Andreas Scholl (born 10 November 1967) is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range, specialising in Baroque music. Born into a family of singers, Scholl was enrolled at the age of seven into the Kiedricher Chorbuben ...

, titled ''Wanderer''. The reviewer of a similar program at Wigmore Hall noted in The Guardian that she "proved to be a wonderfully subtle accompanist and a performer of real distinction", offering piano works by Mozart and Brahms in addition to the songs. In 2016 she published an album with music by

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth, played on different keyboard instruments including, besides piano and harpsichord,

hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

and Wurlitzer piano. The Hessian Cultural Prize 2016 was awarded to both Halperin and Scholl by Volker Bouffier, the Minister-president of Hesse. Michael Herrmann spoke at the event about both artists as crossing borders.

Awards

* 1998–2000: scholarship of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation * 2004: ''Ehrenpreis'' of the Van Vlaanderen Musica Antiqua Brugge Competition * 2005: Presser Award * 2006: REC Music Award * 2006 and 2007: Eisen-Picard Performing Arts Award * 2010 and 2014: Echo Jazz, for her "Wunderkammer" productions with Michael Wollny * 2016:

Hessischer Kulturpreis The Hessian Cultural Prize (german: link=no, Hessischer Kulturpreis) is an annual German culture prize awarded by the Government of Hesse. The prize was established in 1982. With a trophy of 60,000 German marks, now 45,000 Euro, it is currently th ...

(with her husband

)

References

External links

*
Tamar Halperin
Neue Meister
Tamar Halperin
Heidelberger Frühling {{DEFAULTSORT:Halperin, Tamar Israeli classical pianists Israeli harpsichordists Israeli women pianists Tel Aviv University alumni Schola Cantorum Basiliensis alumni Juilliard School alumni 1976 births Living people Musicians from Tel Aviv 21st-century classical pianists ACT Music artists Israeli expatriates in Switzerland Jewish Israeli musicians Women harpsichordists 21st-century Israeli women musicians Women classical pianists 21st-century Israeli Jews 21st-century women pianists