Renowned Beethoven expert and gifted pianist enters our musical realm
UCLA Celebrates Beethoven's 250th Anniversary with Performance Studies
UCLA, a fitting location to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth in 1770, is set to celebrate the legendary composer with a series of captivating events. The celebrations, led by Professor William Kinderman, the inaugural holder of the Leo M. Klein and Elaine Krown Klein Chair in Performance Studies, promise to be a blend of theory and practice, the rational and the sensuous, the head and the heart.
Professor Kinderman, an esteemed pianist and scholar, has had rewarding contact with outstanding performers such as Alfred Brendel and András Schiff. His expertise in Beethoven's work reached its fulfillment when he recorded the Diabelli Variations, a piece he performed dozens of times. He is set to publish a book titled Beethoven: A Political Life by the University of Chicago Press during the Beethoven anniversary year 2020.
The UCLA Beethoven celebration will include performances of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, parts of the C major Mass, the Fourth Piano Concerto, and the Choral Fantasy, among other pieces. The culmination of UCLA's Beethoven celebration in December 2020 includes a re-creation of the extraordinary monster concert Beethoven organized in December 1808.
Some surprises are planned for UCLA's Beethoven celebration that should draw broader public attention. An upcoming opportunity for Beethoven activity at UCLA involves a traveling exhibition from the Beethoven-Haus at Bonn coming to Los Angeles in May.
Professor Kinderman values the merging of doing and thinking, practical and conceptual knowledge, in his teaching approach. He emphasizes the importance of enhancing students' performance ability through knowledge and insights that make artistic communication exciting and memorable. He believes that a student may expect to gain a reintegration of theory and practice through the Performance Studies area at UCLA.
The new chair will enable the school of music to enhance its reputation as an innovative center for the training of the "thinking musician." The approach of Performance Studies is gaining momentum and is in increasing demand. Performance Studies, or Artistic Research, can open new perspectives and teaching opportunities by countering trends toward compartmentalization and overspecialization in music education.
Performance Studies was first established as a distinct academic discipline during the late 20th century, especially gaining recognition in the 1970s and 1980s. It emerged by integrating theory and practice from various fields including theatre, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, and literature, defining itself as a multidisciplinary study of performance in both artistic and everyday life contexts.
Professor Kinderman completed his Ph.D. in music at the University of California, Berkeley, and is "extremely pleased" to return to California. He is enthusiastic about the Herb Alpert School of Music's achievements and potential. The approach of Performance Studies is indeed gaining momentum, and UCLA's Beethoven celebration is a testament to its growing importance and influence.
Combining Professor Kinderman's educational background and expertise in Performance Studies, UCLA's online education platform could offer courses delving into Beethoven's life and work, merging both theory and practice, entertainment, and education-and-self-development. Additionally, one could anticipate online musical performances of Beethoven's greatest compositions, further supplementing learning opportunities within the realm of music and entertainment.
