Chopin's Piano: A Path Through the Romantic Century

Venue: Melba Hall, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

Presenters: Dr Paul Kildea

Author and conductor Dr 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, industrialisation, the history of the modern piano, Chopin reception, and the changing meaning of music over time. He is joined by mezzo-soprano Sally Wilson.

Dr Paul Kildea holds degrees from The University of Melbourne and a doctorate from Oxford University. He is former artistic director of Wigmore Hall, London. He lives in Berlin.

He is a 2016 Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow.

from
https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/6653-chopin-s-piano-a-path-through-the-romantic-century