• the217
• Music
• Pianist Charles Rosen to play Foellinger Great Hall

Related Media

See More About these Events

Charles Rosen »

• Event has already occurred
• Krannert Center for the Performing Arts »
  500 S. Goodwin Ave. Urbana, IL 61801
  (Show on map)

As the Krannert Center’s director, Mike Ross has brought his personal love for classical piano many times to a schedule that has included a number of great pianists. Nothing has been more enhancing to an already proficient schedule of performances than his ability to bring those legendary performers who can still thrill audiences after decades in the performing arts. Once again, our horizon in Urbana will be brightened with one of the great keyboard artists of the last 50 years when Charles Rosen performs in the Foellinger Great Hall on April 22.

Rosen is a true Renaissance man whose credits are staggering and have been since a young age. He was born May 5, 1927 in New York City, and by age 11, he was finished with formal studies at Julliard. Rosen spent years of intensive development with Moriz Rosenthal, and upon Rosenthal’s death in 1946, he studied with his widow, Hedwig Kanner-Rosenthal. His interest in the world and a continued education did not stop here, and during his transition to a concert career, he earned a doctorate in French literature from Princeton University and would embark on a career as a musicologist that was as distinguished as his concert career. Just for good measure, Rosen also held several teaching positions at major universities that include Oxford, Harvard and the University of Chicago.

In as much as his April 22 concert will showcase his extraordinary skills at the keyboard, it is worth looking at his other talents as well. He has added to more than a dozen books as either a contributor or editor; his masterwork, The Classical Style, won the National Book Award, The Romantic Generation, published in 1995, was universally praised and his collection of essays, Critical Entertainments, was published to glowing reviews by the Harvard University Press. His recordings of the Beethoven sonatas can be accompanied by his own scholarly analysis, Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas: A Short Companion. It is no wonder he was in demand for university teaching positions.

But most lovers of great music know him as a pianist of the first order. In fact, Rosen seems to have mastered all orders. In his more than 50 extant recordings, Rosen seems to have mastered the entire history of the keyboard. From Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” and Beethoven’s sonatas to the Romanic collections of Chopin and Schumann and the keyboard works of Elliott Carter — does a performer’s repertoire get any more diverse than this? Perhaps even more amazing is his brilliance in all of these areas, from the Baroque to living composers. Even better still, after hearing him play, you can read an analysis of the music and its history in one of his books.

Musical America has honored Charles Rosen as 2008 instrumentalist of the year, and its editor, Sedgwick Clark, summed up Rosen’s rare combination of achievements. “Charles Rosen’s performances of music by Bach, Beethoven and Debussy have been hailed as revelatory, and he has worked with such contemporary masters as Stravinsky, Boulez and Carter,” said Clark. “He also has a formidable career as a scholar and writer, with the National-Book-Award-winning The Classical Style being a necessary volume in any music collection.”

Little wonder he has announced no program for the April 22 concert, meaning he could perform selections from the entire history of the repertoire of the keyboard and convince you that any and all of what he plays is his speciality. In addition, Charles Rosen will speak on April 21 at noon as part of the Art in Conversation series at Stage 5 in the Krannert Center. For further information on either event, contact http://www.krannertcenter.com, or call 333-6280.