Antonio Iturrioz Lecture/Recital "Godowsky - The Buddha of the Piano"

The MTAC Alameda branch is pleased to host Antonio Iturrioz presenting a lecture recital on "Godowsky - The Buddha of the Piano". Join us as Mr. Iturrioz gives us an informative and insightful glimpse into the life and music of this virtuoso pianist and composer. Space is limited so reserve your tickets now. Questions? Contact Joel Tepper at [email protected], 510-517-5258.

Antonio Iturrioz Bio

Concert pianist, documentarian, and Steinway Artist Antonio Iturrioz, born in Cuba, came to the United States when he was 7 years old. Giving his first concert at 9, he played the Liszt First Piano Concerto for his orchestral debut at 15. His teachers have included his father, Pablo Iturrioz; Francisco De Hoyos, a pupil of Gyorgi Sandor; Bernardo Segall, who studied with the Liszt pupil Alexander Siloti; Aube Tzerko; and Julian White. He has taken many master classes from Byron Janis, Alexis Weissenberg, Jorge Bolet, and Andre Watts.

While recuperating from an injury to his right hand, Iturrioz learned important and obscure works for the left hand, including the complete Godowsky arrangements and original compositions. This led to his first film, the unique documentary The Art of the Left Hand: A Brief History of Left Hand Piano Music, called “an important film” by Clavier magazine. His second documentary, The Buddha of the Piano: Leopold Godowsky, the first and only film about Godowsky, has been shown at international piano festivals, colleges in the U.S., and at the Edinburgh Society of Musicians. Highly praised by Marc-Andre Hamelin, Byron Janis, Gary Graffman, Carlo Grante, and many others, Scotland’s greatest pianist of the second half of the Twentieth Century, Dr. Ronald Stevenson, said, “It is an important film for all pianists and pianophiles….You reveal with skill, clarity and sensitivity the intricacies of his polyphonic piano writing.” The film, translated into Italian and French, will soon be translated into Polish. Both films have been featured on national public television.

On February 13, 2020, Iturrioz gave a lecture-recital at Seattle Pacific University celebrating the 150th anniversary of Godowsky’s birth. Iturrioz is the Director of the New International Godowsky Society.

Iturrioz in 2013 in San Francisco gave the world premiere performance on one piano of L. M. Gottschalk's complete two-movement symphony, La Nuit des Tropiques, (the first American symphony) having transcribed for the first time the second movement, “Fiesta Criolla,” for one piano. Other world premieres followed in Italy and Scotland.

In 2018 the Steinway & Sons label released Iturrioz’s cd Gottschalk and Cuba which includes the world premiere recording of this historic work. Andre Watts has called Gottschalk and Cuba an “extraordinary album of music!”

For more information:

Gottschalkandcuba.com

Newinternationalgodowskysociety.com

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