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PIANO – Prof. Hardy Rittner (University of Music Freiburg)
4 January 2024 - 8 January 2024
Teacher:
Hardy Rittner is a pioneer in the field of historically informed performance of nineteenth century keyboard music. At the same time he is a member of a new generation of pianists who are at home both on period instruments and on the modern concert grand piano, interpreting a repertoire extending to contemporary music.
Hardy focuses on researching Chopin and making his insights tangible in concert performances. Hardy’s book “Die vergessene Cantilene. Frédéric Chopin’s misunderstood virtuosity” (dissertation for Dr. phil., publication in September 2022) brings new insights into the performance of Chopin’s music. Its key finding is that Chopin pursued a ‘vocal ideal’ influenced by bel canto (amongst others) even in his virtuoso passages. The book propagates a fundamentally different Chopin playing and leads to the conclusion that previous reference interpretations do not correspond to Chopin’s intentions. Hardy’s expertise shaped the new Chopin editions by Bärenreiter, where Hardy introduces notes on performance practice and fingerings based on historical models.
Hardy has performed in most European countries at such distinguished venues as Philharmonie Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Kurhaus Wiesbaden, Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal, Rudolf-Oetker-Halle Bielefeld, and Tonhalle Düsseldorf. Concert engagements have also led Hardy to the United States, Canada, China, South Korea, and Taiwan.
For the Detmold label MDG, the two-time Echo Klassik laureate has recorded the first complete rendition – on period instruments – of Johannes Brahms’s solo piano music; his discography includes a live recording of Brahms’s first piano concerto with the historically informed l’arte del mondo orchestra (conductor: Werner Ehrhardt), Chopin’s complete études, and Arnold Schönberg’s piano oeuvre.
Hardy received fellowships from Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and Herbert-von-Karajan-Centrum Vienna. From 2009−2012, he was supported by Bayer Kultur as a stART-Künstler.
After studying piano and fortepiano with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Siegbert Rampe at Mozarteum Salzburg, Hardy continued his education at Universität der Künste Berlin, where he studied piano with Klaus Hellwig (“Konzertexamen”) and music theory (“Diplom”) with Hartmut Fladt. Christian Zacharias, Krystian Zimerman, Ivo Pogorelich, Maria J. Pires, and Sylvain Cambreling were also among those who contributed to his education as a performing artist.
Hardy is a professor for piano and artistic research at Musikhochschule Freiburg and gives masterclasses in Germany and abroad.
