Chopin's Piano: A Path Through the Romantic Century

Venue: Melba Hall, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

Presenters: Dr Paul Kildea

Miegunyah Lecture

Author and conductor Paul Kildea uses a single piano – the instrument on which Chopin completed his groundbreaking Preludes – to forge a path through the history of Romantic music. Kildea outlines the fate of the piano and the famous pieces written on it, from Majorca in the winter of 1838–9, to Paris in 1940, when it was looted by the Nazis, to its postwar restitution following its discovery in a salt mine. Drawing on his new book, to be published by Penguin in 2017, Kildea talks about Romanticism, industrialization, the history of the modern piano, Chopin reception, and the changing meaning of music over time. He is joined by mezzo-soprano Sally Wilson.

A former Young Artist at Opera Australia, Paul Kildea has conducted throughout Australia and Europe, including guest appearances with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble 2e2m (Paris), Nash Ensemble (London), West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Australian Youth Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Britten–Pears Orchestra.

from
https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/6596-chopin-s-piano-a-path-through-the-romantic-century