Anton Kuerti

Musician

• Born: July 21, 1938
• Place of Birth: Vienna, Austria

Contribution: Anton Kuerti is an award-winning pianist and composer. Born in Austria and raised in the United States, he has resided in Canada since the 1960s, where he has also worked as a teacher, conductor, artistic director, and peace advocate. Kuerti has performed in more than 140 Canadian communities and with every professional Canadian orchestra, as well as a number of American ones. He is also one of the most recorded musical artists, having produced all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s works, all of Johannes Brahms concertos, all of Franz Schubert sonatas, and numerous works by other composers.

Early Life and Education

Anton Emil Kuerti was born on July 21, 1938, in Vienna, Austria. He was raised in the United States and became a naturalized US citizen in 1944. Kuerti moved to Toronto, Ontario, in 1965 and became a Canadian citizen in 1984. He began his musical career at age eleven with a performance of Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor (also known as the Grieg Concerto) with famed conductor Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Kuerti’s formal music education began at the Cleveland Institute of Music in Ohio, where he received a bachelor of music degree in 1955. He also studied at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His professional career began in 1957 after he was awarded the Philadelphia Orchestra Youth Prize, the National Music League Award, and the Leventritt Award. Kuerti would also be awarded, among other academic achievements, an honorary doctor of music degree from Ontario’s Laurentian University (Greater Sudbury) in 1985.

Music Career

Kuerti’s musical performances have included appearances with some of the world’s major orchestras, such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. His vast repertoire includes more than fifty concertos, including a piano concerto he composed himself in 1985. Kuerti’s well-known recordings are regularly featured by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and he has performed on radio and television in Canada and Europe.

As a young solo pianist, Kuerti performed with the Zimbler Sinfonietta, a chamber orchestra, in 1950, and the MIT Symphony Orchestra in 1951. He gave recitals in 1953 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, and at the Phillips Gallery in Washington, DC. Kuerti is known for his recitals and interpretations of works by famous composers such as Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, and Ludwig van Beethoven. He has also played compositions by the Austrian pianist Carl Czerny. In 2002, the first international Carl Czerny Music Festival was held in Edmonton, Alberta, with Kuerti as its artistic director.

Kuerti composed a number of works in the 1970s and 1980s, beginning with the Linden Suite for piano in 1971. Other works include Magog, a poem for cello and piano (1972); String Quartet no. 2 (1972); Symphony Epomeo (1973); Violin Sonata (1973); Six Arrows, for piano (1973); Piano Concerto (1986); Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano (1989); and Concertino for piano, violin, and flute (1996). Kuerti has given premiers of both his works and those by other Canadian composers.

Kuerti has taught music at numerous institutions, including McGill University in Montreal, the University of Toronto from 1968 to 1972, and the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music, also in Toronto. As a composer and concert organizer, Kuerti founded the Festival of Sound in 1980, which he directed until 1985. The festival, a summer concert series that takes place in Parry Sound, Ontario, has continued its annual run since 1985 under the leadership of James Campbell. In 2007, Kuerti became the artistic director for the Mooredale Concerts of Toronto and the three Mooredale Youth Orchestras, founded by his wife in 1986. In October 2013, Kuerti suffered a stroke during a concert in Miami, Florida. He eventually recovered and resumed his performing career several years later.

Awards

Kuerti was named to the Order of Canada in 1998 and has received honorary doctorates from numerous institutions. Among other accolades, Kuerti received the Robert Schumann Prize from Germany in 2007, the Banff Centre Nationals Arts Award, also in 2007, and a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2008. His famous performances of thirty-two Beethoven sonatas, first given in 1974 and 1975 in Toronto and Ottawa, resulted in the Aquitaine recording of 1976, which that year won the first Juno Award given to a classical music recording. Kuerti was nominated for the Juno Awards again in 1987, 2000, 2003, 2009, and 2011. Kuerti was made a member of the Order of Toronto in 2016.

Social and Political Activism

Kuerti has also used his music for the benefit of social activism, performing benefit concerts for Oxfam, Amnesty International, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). A noted peace activist, Kuerti has been a vocal critic of Israel’s policies towards Gaza, particularly the nation’s attack on Gaza in 2009. During the 1988 federal elections, Kuerti was the New Democratic Party candidate for the now abolished electoral district of Don Valley North, Toronto.

Personal Life

Kuerti married Hungarian-Canadian cellist Kristine Bogyo, who died in 2007. The couple had two sons, both of whom are musicians.

Bibliography

“Anton Kuerti, Piano.” Jonathan Wentworth Associates. Jonathan Wentworth, n.d. Web. 2 Aug. 2013.

Becker. “Piano Pieces.” American Record Guide 76.4 (2013): 118–9. Print.

Hindman, Dorothy. "Pianist Kuerti Stricken While Performing in Coral Gables." South Florida Classical Review, 17 Oct. 2013, southfloridaclassicalreview.com/2013/10/pianist-kuerti-stricken-while-performing-in-coral-gables. Accessed 17 Sept. 2024.

Siepman, Jeremy. “Pinding Schumann.” International Piano May/June 2010 1: 33–6. Print.

Tommasini, Anthony. “Music Review; Capturing a Master’s Enduring Power.” New York Times. New York Times, 2 Jan. 1998. Web. 2 Aug. 2013.

Turbide, Diane. “Beethoven Reignites a Pianist’s Career.” Maclean’s 10 Feb. 1997: 57. Print.

Wigler, Stephen. “Anton Kuerti at Smith Theatre, Candlelight Concerts, Columbia, Maryland.” International Piano Mar./Apr. 2007 50: 63. Print.

Winters, Kenneth, and Cheryl Gillard. “Anton Kuerti.” Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica-Dominion, 2012. Web. 2 Aug. 2013.