Gilbert Kalish
Encyclopedia
Gilbert Kalish is an American pianist.
He was born in New York
and studied with Leonard Shure
, Julius Hereford and Isabelle Vengerova
. He was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a pioneering new music group that flourished during the 1960s and '70s. He was a pianist of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players from 1969 to 1998.
He is noted for his partnerships with other artists, particularly his thirty-year collaboration with mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani
, but also including cellists Timothy Eddy and Joel Krosnick
, and soprano Dawn Upshaw
.
Kalish is Leading Professor and Head of Performance Activities at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. From 1968 to 1997 he was a faculty member of the Tanglewood Music Center
and served as the "Chairman of the Faculty" at Tanglewood from 1985-1997. He has also served on the faculties of the Banff Centre
and the Steans Institute at Ravinia, and is renowned for his master class presentations
Kalish has a large discography, encompassing classical repertory, 20th-century masterworks and new compositions. These include his solo recordings of Charles Ives
' Concord Sonata
and sonatas of Joseph Haydn
, vocal music with Jan DeGaetani and landmarks of the 20th century by composers such as Elliott Carter
, George Crumb
, Ralph Shapey
and Arnold Schoenberg
. He made the world premiere recordings of Charles Ives’ Largo for Violin and Piano, In Re Con Moto et al., Largo Risoluto No. 1 & 2, A Set of Three Short Pieces (mvts: Largo cantabile: Hymn, Scherzo: Holding Your Own, Adagio cantabile: The Innate) and songs The All-Enduring, The Innate, and Song (She is not fair).
Kalish has given many first performances, and has had many works written for him. He gave the first solo piano recital in the newly renovated Miller Theatre at Columbia University. He has received many honours, including three Grammy Award
nominations. In 1995 he was presented with the Paul Fromm
Award by the University of Chicago
Music Department for distinguished service to the music of our time.
He was born in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and studied with Leonard Shure
Leonard Shure
Leonard Shure was an American concert pianist, and heir to the tradition of the great Artur Schnabel, began his career as a performer at the age of 5 and as a teenager studied privately with Schnabel in Germany.-Life:Shure graduated from the Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin in 1927, at which time he...
, Julius Hereford and Isabelle Vengerova
Isabelle Vengerova
Isabelle Vengerova was a Russian, later American, pianist and music teacherShe was born Izabella Afanasyevna Vengerova , in Minsk . Her elder brother Semyon Vengerov was a venerable literary historian...
. He was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a pioneering new music group that flourished during the 1960s and '70s. He was a pianist of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players from 1969 to 1998.
He is noted for his partnerships with other artists, particularly his thirty-year collaboration with mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani
Jan DeGaetani
Jan DeGaetani was an American mezzo-soprano known for her performances of contemporary classical vocal compositions.DeGaetani was born in Massillon, Ohio...
, but also including cellists Timothy Eddy and Joel Krosnick
Joel Krosnick
Joel Krosnick is an American soloist, cellist, recitalist, and chamber musician who has performed all over the world for over thirty-five years...
, and soprano Dawn Upshaw
Dawn Upshaw
Dawn Upshaw is an American soprano described as "one of the most consequential performers of our time" by the Los Angeles Times. The recipient of several Grammy Awards and Edison Prize-winning discs, Upshaw is at home both in opera and art song, and in repertoire from Baroque to contemporary...
.
Kalish is Leading Professor and Head of Performance Activities at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. From 1968 to 1997 he was a faculty member of the Tanglewood Music Center
Tanglewood Music Center
The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops designed to provide an intense training and networking experience...
and served as the "Chairman of the Faculty" at Tanglewood from 1985-1997. He has also served on the faculties of the Banff Centre
Banff Centre
The Banff Centre, formerly known as The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta...
and the Steans Institute at Ravinia, and is renowned for his master class presentations
Kalish has a large discography, encompassing classical repertory, 20th-century masterworks and new compositions. These include his solo recordings of Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
' Concord Sonata
Piano Sonata No. 2 (Ives)
The Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840–60 by Charles Ives, commonly known as the Concord Sonata, is one of the composer's best-known and most highly regarded pieces....
and sonatas of Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, vocal music with Jan DeGaetani and landmarks of the 20th century by composers such as Elliott Carter
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
, George Crumb
George Crumb
George Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born...
, Ralph Shapey
Ralph Shapey
Ralph Shapey was an American composer and conductor. He is well-known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago, where he founded and directed the Contemporary Chamber Players...
and Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
. He made the world premiere recordings of Charles Ives’ Largo for Violin and Piano, In Re Con Moto et al., Largo Risoluto No. 1 & 2, A Set of Three Short Pieces (mvts: Largo cantabile: Hymn, Scherzo: Holding Your Own, Adagio cantabile: The Innate) and songs The All-Enduring, The Innate, and Song (She is not fair).
Kalish has given many first performances, and has had many works written for him. He gave the first solo piano recital in the newly renovated Miller Theatre at Columbia University. He has received many honours, including three Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nominations. In 1995 he was presented with the Paul Fromm
Paul Fromm
Frederick Paul Fromm , known as Paul Fromm, is a Canadian neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier, based in Port Credit, Ontario. He hosts a radio show on the Stormfront web site and has ties to former Ku Klux Klan members David Duke and Don Black...
Award by the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
Music Department for distinguished service to the music of our time.