Ursula Oppens

Ursula Oppens (born February 2, 1944) is an American classical concert pianist and educator. She has received five Grammy Award nominations.[1]

Ursula Oppens
Born(1944-02-02)February 2, 1944
Musical career
Occupation(s)Pianist, educator
InstrumentsPiano

Biography

Ursula Oppens was born on February 2, 1944 in New York City into a highly musical family.[2] 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.

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, Bun-Ching Lam, 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 of Frederic Rzewski's "The People United Will Never Be Defeated" and a version on American Piano Music of Our Time of Elliott Carter's 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, Angel, New World, Arte Nova, Nonesuch, Albany Records, Mark Masters, Summit, Boosey & Hawkes, New World, DeNote, Watt Works, and Bridge.

Complete discography

SOLO RECORDINGS:

TitleDescriptionLabel
Oppens Plays Carter: Elliott Carter at 100Cedille CD 90000 108*
"Winging It": Piano Music of John CoriglianoCedille CD 90000 123*
Keys to the City: Works for Piano by Tobias PickerWergo CD 66952
Carnegie Hall Millennium Piano BookWorks 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
American Piano Music of Our Time Volume IElliott 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*
American Piano Music of Our Time Volume IIAnthony 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
BeethovenFantasy 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
Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be DefeatedVanguard Classics OVC 8056*
    • Grammy Nomination

OTHER SOLO RECORDINGS:

ComposerWork(s)Label
Elliott CarterRetrouvaillesQuintets and Voices, Mode 128
Elliott Carter90+

Duo for Violin and Piano (Irvine Arditti) Sonata for Cello and Piano (Rohan de Saram)

Montaigne MO 78 2091**
Stephen DemskiTender Buttons/PterodactylMusic from Dartmouth 0200
Peter LiebersonFantaisieCRI S-350
Otto LueningSonata for PianoCRI SD334
Tobias PickerWhen Soft Voices DieCRI SD427
Robert SchumannCarnaval, Opus 9 (Concorsopianistico

internazionale "Ferruccio Busoni" Bolzano 30 Anni di Storia pianistica) (Commemorative recording)

Nuevo Era 5718-DM
Joan TowerHolding a Daisy
   Or Like a...an Engine
Naxos 8.559215
Christian WolffHay Una Mujer DesaparecidaMusic from Dartmouth 0200
      • Gramophone Magazine 1999 Awards Issue: Voted best 20th-Century Chamber Music Recording

RECORDINGS WITH ORCHESTRA:

ComposerWorkSymphony, ConductorLabel
John AdamsGrand Pianola MusicSolisti New York, Feinberg, WilsonAngel DS3735
Elliott CarterPiano ConcertoCincinnati Symphony Orchestra, GielenArte Nova 74321-27773
Elliott CarterPiano ConcertoSudwestfunk Orchester, Gielen Arte Nova 74321-27773
Joseph SchwantnerDistant Runes & IncantationsSt. Louis Symphony, Slatkin Nonesuch 79143
Allen ShawnPiano ConcertoAlbany Symphony, Allen MillerAlbany Records, Troy 441
Igor StravinskyConcerto for Piano and WindsUniversity of Florida Wind SymphonyMark Masters
Igor StravinskyConcerto for Piano and WindsSymphonic

Wind Ensemble of Northwestern University, Thompson

Summit
Francis ThornePiano Concerto No. 3New Orchestra

of Westchester, Dunkel

New World
Joan TowerRapidsUW Madison Symphony Orchestra, BeckerUW-Madison School of Music 193156902-9
Joan TowerPiano ConcertoLouisville Symphony, SilversteinDeNote Records DND 1016

CHAMBER MUSIC RECORDINGS:

ComposerWork(s)Collaborator(s)Label
L. Van BeethovenGrosse Fuge, Op. 134Paul JacobsNonesuch 79061
Carla Bley3/4VariousWatt Works 3
Johannes BrahmsSonatas, Op. 120, No. 1 & 2, Scherzo in C MinorBarbara WestphalBridge BCD 9021
Anthony BraxtonFor Two PianosFrederic RzewskiArista Freedom
Elliott CarterQuintets and Voices, Quintet for Piano and Strings, Quintet for Winds and PianoArditti Quartet, Taylor, Neidich, Morelli, PurvisMode 128
Elliott CarterA Mirror On Which To DwellSpeculum MusicaeCBS M35171
CompanyEpiphanyDerek Bailey and othersIncus 46-47
Alvin CurranEra Ora, For CorneliusFrederic RzewskiNew Albion 011
Peter Maxwell DaviesSonata for Trumpet and PianoGerard SchwarzNonesuch 0298
Claude Debussy(Ravel) Nocturnes (Commemorative Recording)Aki TakahashiMusic Today WWCC7107-10
Claude DebussyEn blanc et noirJerome LowenthalCDR 90000 119
Morton FeldmanSpring of ChosroesPaul ZukovskyCP2 102
Irving FineSonata for Violin and PianoIda KavafianBridge 9123
John HarbisonThe Flower-Fed BuffaloesSpeculum MusicaeNonesuch 71366
VariationsR. Harbison, D. SatzNortheastern NR23¬0CD
Julius HemphillOne AtmosphereTzadik 7090
David LangIllumination RoundsRolf SchulteCRI CD 625
Olivier MessiaenVisions de L’AmenJerome LowenthalCDR90000 119
Donald MartinoNotturnoSpeculum MusicaeNonesuch 71300
W.A. MozartFantasia for a Musical Clock K. 608 (trans. Busoni)Paul JacobsNonesuch 79061
Tobias PickerSextet No. 3Speculum MusicaeCRI 427
Frederic RzewskiNight Crossing with Fisherman

Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues

Frederic RzewskiMusic & Arts CD 988
Carl RugglesVox Clamans in DesertoSpeculum MusicaeCBS
Arthur SchnabelSonata for Violin & PianoZukovskyCP2 102
Arnold SchoenbergCabaret Songs; Songs, Opus 2;

Book of The Hanging Gardens

Phyllis Bryn-JulsonMusic & Arts CD650
Allen ShawnSextetAspen Wind QuintetNortheastern NR 2580
Igor StravinskyThe Four Hand PetrouchkaPaul JacobsNonesuch 79038
Igor StravinskyMusic for Two Pianos and Piano Four HandsPaul JacobsNonesuch H71347
Richard WilsonConcert Piece for Violin and PianoRolf SchulteCRI CD 602
Amnon WolmanThomas and BeulahCynthia Hayman, soprano,

Wolman, electronics

Innova 559
Charles WuorinenSpeculum SpeculiSpeculum MusicaeNonesuch 71300
Charles WuorinenQuintetC. Macomber, C. Zori,

S. St. Johns, F. Sherry

Koch 37410-2H1
Vyautas BacevičiusSeptime Mot, opus 75Gabrielius AleknaToccata Classics 0134
Stefan WolpeSongs: The Angel, Two Songs for Baritone, Songs of the Jewish PioneersRebecca Jo Loeb, Matt BoehlerBridge 9308
Richard StraussAndante for Horn and PianoWilliam BarnewitzAV 86A

AV 2126

W.A. MozartQuintet for Piano and Winds K 452Margaret Butler, Todd Levy Ted Soluri, William BarnewitzAV 86A
Johannes BrahmsWiegenlied opus 49 no. 4 4 (arr. Barnewitrz)William BarnewitzAV 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

References

  1. "Edith Oppens". Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit [Encyclopedia of Persecuted Musicians of the National Socialist Era] (in German). University of Hamburg. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
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