Babette Hierholzer
Babette Hierholzer (born March 27, 1957 in Freiburg im Breisgau) is a German American pianist.
Biography
Hierholzer started playing the piano at the age of five, and received her first lessons with Elisabeth Dounias-Sindermann and Wolfgang Saschowa in Berlin. At the age of eleven she made her debut at the Berlin Philharmonie with Mozart's Piano Concerto KV 488. Her other teachers included Herbert Stessin, Lili Kraus, Claude Frank, Paul Badura-Skoda, Maria Tipo and Bruno Leonardo Gelber. Herbert von Karajan for whom she auditioned, invited her spontaneously to concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with conductors Klaus Tennstedt, Sir Colin Davis, Leopold Hager, Semyon Bychkov. Babette Hierholzer performed extensively in Europe, North and South America and Africa. Her artistic activities focused especially on the works of Robert and Clara Schumann. She played both: Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7 and the lesser-known concerto movement in F Minor (1847). She published Clara Wieck's 'Quatre Polonaises pour le pianoforte' op. 1 for Ries & Erler, Berlin. In 1983, Ms. Hierholzer performed the soundtrack and double/stand-in role for Clara Schumann, played by Nastassja Kinski, in Peter Schamoni’s Schumann movie 'Spring Symphony’.
In the early 1990s Hierholzer moved to the United States, where she continued her career.
In addition to her solo commitments in 2004 together she and pianist Jürgen Appell founded the Duo Lontano, which can look back to a successful ten years of concertizing. Extensive tours took the duo to Italy, Germany, Venezuela, Mexico, Russia and the United States. In Caracas, they played with the Orquesta Juvenil Simón Bolívar Mozart's Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra, KV 365, led by Gustavo Dudamel. In 2015 Duo Lontano released their CD of original works for piano 4 hands by Felix Mendelssohn.
Babette Hierholzer is the Artistic Director to the German Forum, Inc. in New York since 2005, an organization that has made it its mission to invite young performers from the German speaking World for debut concerts to New York. [1] In 2014 The German Forum celebrated its 10th anniversary with a concert at the Bruno Walter Auditorium (Lincoln Center).
Babette Hierholzer is a Steinway & Sons Artist.[2]
Babette Hierholzer lives with her husband and dog in Upstate New York.
Recordings
- Hommage à Watteau: Couperin, Debussy, Schumann Marus/EMI Electrola 1985
- Robert Schumann: Exercises, Wieck-Variations f-minor, Sonata g-minor op. 22, Carnaval op. 9 Marus/EMI Electrola 1986/87
- W.A. Mozart: Piano works Marus/EMI Electrola 1989
- Franz Schubert: Sonata B-flat-major D 960 Marus/EMI Electrola 1994
- Kinderszenen with works by Robert Schumann, Clara Wieck, Alfredo Casella etc., Marus/Deutschlandradio 1997
- Domenico Scarlatti: Sonatas. Vol. I-III, Marus/EMI Electrola 1985/1991 (Vol. I and II), Marus/DeutschlandRadio Berlin 2000 (Vol. III)
- J. S. Bach: Transcriptions for piano GENUIN/Deutschlandradio Kultur 2003/2007
- Ferdinand Ries: Works for cello and piano (with Nancy Green), JRI Recordings 2005
- W. A. Mozart: Piano concerto KV 488 (with Berlin Philharmonic, conductor: Klaus Tennstedt), Testament Recordings 2010
- Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Works for piano four hands (Duo Lontano), GENUIN 2015
External links
References
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