Ann Schein Carlyss
Encyclopedia
Ann Schein Carlyss was born to a violinist mother and an attorney father. She is a Master Teacher and Concert Pianist who has performed with many conductors, including George Szell
, James Levine
, Seiji Ozawa
, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
, and Sir Colin Davis. She has also performed with many orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic
, the Philadelphia Orchestra
, the Cleveland Orchestra
, the Los Angeles Philharmonic
, the Baltimore Symphony, the London Philharmonic, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
.
Schein currently resides in New York with her husband Earl Carlyss, who was a member of the famed Juilliard String Quartet
, and is currently a faculty member at the Juilliard School of Music. They have two daughters.
, Illinois, but she moved to Washington D.C. when she was 4. At age 5, she began her piano training with Glenn and Bessie Gunn. She went on to study at the Peabody Conservatory under the direction of Mieczyslaw Munz
. In 1959, at age 19, her first recording (of Chopin's Scherzi) established her as a premiere pianist. In 1961, she began lessons with Arthur Rubinstein
. The next year, she performed a solo debut at Carnegie Hall
, followed by a performance at the White House
in 1963 for President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy
.
In 1980, Ann Schein presented an entire season of the major Chopin
repertoire in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall
, going through the entire Chopin cycle. From 1980 until 2000, when she retired, Ann was a member of the piano faculty at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore
. She has been an Artist-Faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School
since 1984 and is a sought-after adjudicator in major international music competitions. During the summer of 2005, she opened the series of the complete Beethoven
Sonatas performed by members of the piano faculty. The Washington International Piano Competition has established an award in Schein's and her mother's name.
, with an album entitled "Miss Ann Schein: A truly brilliant pianist". Other albums included the Chopin Scherzi
and an album of etude
s.
Her recording of solo piano works of Schumann
was released in 2001 on the Ivory Classics
label.
A new recording of the Chopin
Preludes and the B minor Sonata was released by MSR Classics in 2005.
's Third Concerto. Davidsbündlertänze
and Humoresque
have been part of Schein's repertoire since the early days of her career - indeed she played the former at her Carnegie Hall
debut in 1962. Schumann
's popular Arabesque
is performed fluently, the coda beautifully contemplative. Recorded at Spencerville Church in Maryland
, the sound is resonant and full." International Piano Quarterly - Summer 2001
"Schein has made the Romantic literature the centerpiece of her repertoire, hardly surprising considering her teachers, Mieczyslaw Munz
at the Curtis Institute
, Arthur Rubinstein
, and Dame Myra Hess
. She has lived with these major Schumann
works long and intimately, and it shows in her performances as well as in her descriptive notes. With fluent keyboard technique at her disposal, Schein invests these works with poetic imagination and romantic flair. Her readings tend to be straightforward and without exaggeration, but sensitive and subtly nuanced. The recorded sound is close and vivid, adding to the enjoyment of this disc." Fanfare Magazine
- July/August 2001
George Szell
George Szell , originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer...
, James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
, Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
Stanisław Skrowaczewski is an internationally known classical conductor and composer. He was born in Lvov and became best known for his work with the Minnesota Orchestra....
, and Sir Colin Davis. She has also performed with many orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
, the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
, the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
, the Baltimore Symphony, the London Philharmonic, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
.
Schein currently resides in New York with her husband Earl Carlyss, who was a member of the famed Juilliard String Quartet
Juilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York. The original members were violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer, and cellist Arthur Winograd; Current members are Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes violinists,...
, and is currently a faculty member at the Juilliard School of Music. They have two daughters.
Life and career
She spent her early years in EvanstonEvanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
, Illinois, but she moved to Washington D.C. when she was 4. At age 5, she began her piano training with Glenn and Bessie Gunn. She went on to study at the Peabody Conservatory under the direction of Mieczyslaw Munz
Mieczyslaw Munz
Mieczysław Munz was a Polish-American pianist.Munz trained in Vienna and Berlin, with Ferruccio Busoni...
. In 1959, at age 19, her first recording (of Chopin's Scherzi) established her as a premiere pianist. In 1961, she began lessons with Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
. The next year, she performed a solo debut at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, followed by a performance at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in 1963 for President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
.
In 1980, Ann Schein presented an entire season of the major Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
repertoire in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall...
, going through the entire Chopin cycle. From 1980 until 2000, when she retired, Ann was a member of the piano faculty at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
. She has been an Artist-Faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School
Aspen Music Festival and School
The Aspen Music Festival and School, founded in 1949, is an internationally renowned classical music festival that presents music in an intimate, small-town setting...
since 1984 and is a sought-after adjudicator in major international music competitions. During the summer of 2005, she opened the series of the complete Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
Sonatas performed by members of the piano faculty. The Washington International Piano Competition has established an award in Schein's and her mother's name.
Recordings
Her first recordings were made for Kapp RecordsKapp Records
Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp . David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca Records and RCA Victor Records. Kapp licensed its records to London Records for release in the UK.In 1967, David Kapp sold his label to MCA Inc...
, with an album entitled "Miss Ann Schein: A truly brilliant pianist". Other albums included the Chopin Scherzi
Scherzo
A scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
and an album of etude
Étude
An étude , is an instrumental musical composition, most commonly of considerable difficulty, usually designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular technical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popularity of the piano...
s.
Her recording of solo piano works of Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
was released in 2001 on the Ivory Classics
Ivory Classics
Ivory Classics is an American classical music record label governed by the Ivory Classics Foundation. The purpose of this foundation, which was established in 1998, is to "promote, through charitable and benevolent activities, and appreciation for the art of the piano through its work with the...
label.
A new recording of the Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
Preludes and the B minor Sonata was released by MSR Classics in 2005.
- [ Mozart: Trio in Ef; Bruch: Pieces Op83/1-8], 1990 (Koch International Classics)
- [ Rorem: Day Music; Night Music], 1991 (Phoenix USA)
- [ Stravinsky: L'oiseau de feu No2; Duo Concertante], 1991 (Koch International Classics)
- [ Kirchner, Copland, Ives: Music for Violin and Piano] (Phoenix USA)
- [ Jessye Norman Sings Alban Berg], 1995 (SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
) - [ Ann Schein plays Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze; Arabeske; Humoreske], 2000 (Ivory ClassicsIvory ClassicsIvory Classics is an American classical music record label governed by the Ivory Classics Foundation. The purpose of this foundation, which was established in 1998, is to "promote, through charitable and benevolent activities, and appreciation for the art of the piano through its work with the...
)
Reviews
"In the 1960's the American pianist Ann Schein had a big success with RachmaninovSergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
's Third Concerto. Davidsbündlertänze
Davidsbündlertänze
Davidsbündlertänze , Op. 6, is a group of eighteen pieces for solo piano composed by Robert Schumann in 1837. Schumann named them after the imaginary Davidsbündler. The pieces are not true dances, but are characteristic pieces, musical dialogues about contemporary music between Schumann's...
and Humoresque
Humoresque
Humoresque is a genre of romantic music characterized by pieces with fanciful humor in the sense of mood rather than wit. The name refers to the German term Humoreske, which was given from the 1800s onward to humorous tales....
have been part of Schein's repertoire since the early days of her career - indeed she played the former at her Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
debut in 1962. Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
's popular Arabesque
Arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements...
is performed fluently, the coda beautifully contemplative. Recorded at Spencerville Church in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, the sound is resonant and full." International Piano Quarterly - Summer 2001
"Schein has made the Romantic literature the centerpiece of her repertoire, hardly surprising considering her teachers, Mieczyslaw Munz
Mieczyslaw Munz
Mieczysław Munz was a Polish-American pianist.Munz trained in Vienna and Berlin, with Ferruccio Busoni...
at the Curtis Institute
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
, Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
, and Dame Myra Hess
Myra Hess
Dame Myra Hess DBE was a British pianist.She was born in London as Julia Myra Hess, but was best known by her middle name. At the age of five she began to study the piano and two years later entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the Gold Medal...
. She has lived with these major Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
works long and intimately, and it shows in her performances as well as in her descriptive notes. With fluent keyboard technique at her disposal, Schein invests these works with poetic imagination and romantic flair. Her readings tend to be straightforward and without exaggeration, but sensitive and subtly nuanced. The recorded sound is close and vivid, adding to the enjoyment of this disc." Fanfare Magazine
Fanfare Magazine
Fanfare is a magazine devoted to reviewing classical music performance and recordings.Fanfare's contributors have a range of expertise from the medieval to contemporary work...
- July/August 2001
Sources
- Artist's biography published with Ann Schein's CD "Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze, Arabeske, Humoreske", 2000, Ivory ClassicsIvory ClassicsIvory Classics is an American classical music record label governed by the Ivory Classics Foundation. The purpose of this foundation, which was established in 1998, is to "promote, through charitable and benevolent activities, and appreciation for the art of the piano through its work with the...
, Columbus Ohio. 64405-71006 - Details of Kapp recordings obtained by searching http://gemm.com/browse/labels/KAPP/ Dec 14 2009