Ursula Oppens (born February 2, 1944) is an American classical concert pianist and educator. She has received five Grammy Award nominations.[[1] ]
Biography
Ursula Oppens was born on February 2, 1944, in New York City into a musical family from Jewish parents who had fled Prague in 1938.
She obtained a high school diploma from the
Brearley School (1961) a Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude) from Radcliffe College (1965) and an M.S. degree from the
Juilliard School (1967). She began early piano studies with her mother Edith Oppens, a noted piano pedagogue, and went on to study with American pianist
Leonard Shure. At Juilliard she studied with Rosina Lhévinne and
Felix Galimir. In 1969 Oppens won the Gold Medal at the Busoni International Piano Competition and the Young Concert Artists competition, plus an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1976. She served as a Founding Member of the
Speculum Musicae from 1971 to 1982. From 1994 until 2008 Oppens was on the summer faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center. She held the position of Distinguished Professor of Music at Northwestern University from 1994 to 2008, and in 2008 went on to take up a new post as Distinguished Professor of Music at the Conservatory of Music at
Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Oppens is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was also a winner of the Johann Sebastian Bach International Piano Competition in Washington, D.C.
Work
Ursula Oppens is renowned for her commissioning and championship of the music of American composers who were born predominantly in the early decades of the 20th century. The following is a list of composers who have been commissioned by Oppens or who have written works for her:
Carla Bley,
William Bolcom,
Anthony Braxton,
Elliott Carter,
John Corigliano, Anthony Davis,
John Harbison,
Julius Hemphill, M. William Karlins,
Lam Bun-Ching, Tania León,
Peter Lieberson, Patricia Morehead,
Conlon Nancarrow,
Tobias Picker,
Frederic Rzewski,
Allen Shawn,
Alvin Singleton, Richard Teitelbaum,
Francis Thorne,
Joan Tower, Lois V Vierk, Amy Williams, Christian Wolff,
Amnon Wolman, and
Charles Wuorinen. Often such composers have credited Oppens, an acclaimed pianist in the traditional repertory, with being an invaluable pianistic influence in the creation of their music. Oppens's command of contemporary idioms has also extended to the works of such European masters as
Luciano Berio,
Gyorgy Ligeti, and Witold Lutoslawski, whose Piano Concerto was given its Chicago Symphony premiere by Oppens under the baton of
Erich Leinsdorf in 1994.
Recordings
Oppens's discography includes a recording on
Vanguard Records of
Frederic Rzewski "The People United Will Never Be Defeated" and a version on American Piano Music of Our Time of
Elliott Carter Night Fantasies. Overall, Oppens's body of recordings—which has received four Grammy nominations to date—forms a survey of American contemporary piano music which, in addition to the aforementioned listings, also includes the complete piano music of Elliott Carter and
John Corigliano, and compositions by
John Adams,
Julius Hemphill,
Conlon Nancarrow and
Tobias Picker, among others. Oppens has also set to disc a group of Beethoven piano sonatas and piano pieces for the Music & Arts label. To date Oppens has recorded for the following labels:
Cedille,
Wergo, Music & Arts, Vanguard Classics, Mode,
Montaigne, CRI,
Nuevo Era,
Naxos Records,
Angel Records,
New World,
Arte Nova,
Nonesuch Records,
Albany Records, Mark Masters,
Summit Records, Boosey & Hawkes,
New World,
DeNote,
Watt Works, and
Bridge Records.
Complete discography
SOLO RECORDINGS:
|
|
| Cedille 90000 158* |
| Cedille CD 90000 108* |
| Cedille CD 90000 123* |
| Wergo CD 66952 |
Works by Elliott Carter, Frederic Rzewski, John Harbison,
Chen Yi, Wolfgang Rihm, Louis Andriessen, Milton Babbitt,
Tan Dun, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and C. Hannibal | Boosey & Hawkes
|
| Elliott Carter Night Fantasies
John Adams Phrygian Gates
William Bolcom The Dead Moth Tango
Lukas Foss The Curriculum Vitae Tango
Julius Hemphill Parchment
David Jaggard Tango
Conlon Nancarrow Tango?
Michael Sahl Tango From Exiles’ Café
| Music & Arts CD 862*
|
| Anthony Davis Middle Passage
John Harbison Piano Sonata No. 1
Conlon Nancarrow Two Canons for Ursula
Tobias Picker Old and Lost Rivers
Frederic Rzewski Mayn Yingele
Charles Wuorinen The Blue Bamboula
| Music & Arts CD 862
|
| Fantasy in G minor, Op. 77
Sonata No. 11, B-flat Major, Op. 22
Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier"
| Music & Arts CD 734
|
| Vanguard Classics OVC 8056* |
OTHER SOLO RECORDINGS:
|
|
| Quintets and Voices, Mode 128 |
| 90+
Duo for Violin and Piano (Irvine Arditti)
Sonata for Cello and Piano (Rohan de Saram)
| Montaigne MO 78 2091**
|
| Music from Dartmouth 0200 |
| CRI S-350 |
| CRI SD334 |
| CRI SD427 |
| Carnaval, Opus 9 (Concorsopianistico
internazionale
"Ferruccio Busoni" Bolzano
30 Anni di Storia pianistica)
(Commemorative recording)
| Nuevo Era 5718-DM
|
Holding a Daisy
Or Like a...an Engine | Naxos 8.559215
|
| Music from Dartmouth 0200 |
-
Gramophone Magazine 1999 Awards Issue: Voted best 20th-Century Chamber Music Recording
RECORDINGS WITH ORCHESTRA:
|
|
| Angel DS3735 |
| Arte Nova 74321-27773 |
| Sudwestfunk Orchester, Gielen
| Arte Nova 74321-27773
|
| St. Louis Symphony, Slatkin
| Nonesuch 79143
|
| Albany Records, Troy 441 |
| Mark Masters |
| Symphonic
Wind Ensemble of Northwestern University,
Thompson
| Summit
|
| New Orchestra
of Westchester, Dunkel
| New World
|
| UW-Madison School of Music 193156902-9 |
| DeNote Records DND 1016 |
CHAMBER MUSIC RECORDINGS:
|
|
| Cedille CDR 90000 202 |
| Nonesuch 79061 |
| Watt Works 3 |
| Bridge BCD 9021 |
| Arista Freedom |
| Mode 128 |
| CBS M35171 |
| Incus 46-47 |
| New Albion 011 |
| Nonesuch 0298 |
| Music Today WWCC7107-10 |
| CDR 90000 119 |
| CP2 102 |
| Bridge 9123 |
| Nonesuch 71366 |
| Northeastern NR23¬0CD |
| Tzadik 7090 |
| CRI CD 625 |
| CDR90000 119 |
| Nonesuch 71300 |
| Nonesuch 79061 |
| CRI 427 |
| Night Crossing with Fisherman
Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
| Music & Arts CD 988
|
| CBS |
| CP2 102 |
| Cabaret Songs; Songs, Opus 2;
Book of The Hanging Gardens
| Music & Arts CD650
|
| Northeastern NR 2580 |
| Nonesuch 79038 |
| Nonesuch H71347 |
| CRI CD 602 |
| Cynthia Hayman, soprano,
Wolman, electronics
| Innova 559
|
| Nonesuch 71300 |
| C. Macomber, C. Zori,
S. St. Johns, F. Sherry
| Koch 37410-2H1
|
| Toccata Classics 0134 |
| Bridge 9308 |
| AV 86A
AV 2126 |
| AV 86A |
| AV 86A |
Prizes and honors
-
Grammy nomination, 2011 Winging It: The Piano Music of John Corigliano
-
Grammy nomination 2009 Oppens Plays Carter
-
Alumna Recognition Award, Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study 2005
-
Letter of Distinction, American Music Center 2002
-
Convention Artist, MTNA 2000
-
Paul Fromm Award-University of Chicago 1998
-
Grammy nomination 1990 American Piano Music of Our Time
-
Phi Beta Kappa (honorary) 1990
-
Grammy nomination 1980 Frederic Rzewski, The People United Will Never Be Defeated
-
Record World Award 1979
-
Avery Fisher Career Grant 1976
-
Martha Baird Rockefeller Grant 1970
-
Gold Medal Busoni International Piano Competition, 1969
-
Diploma d'onore Accademia Chigiana 1969
-
Josef Lhévinne Scholarship 1966
-
National Merit Scholarship 1961
External links
