|
The American harpsichordist, Kenneth Weiss, graduated from the High School of Performing Arts. He received a Bachelors of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (USA) and continued his studies with Gustav Leonhardt at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam.
From 1990 to 1993 Kenneth Weiss was Musical Assistant to William Christie at Les Arts Florissants, participating in numerous opera productions and recordings.
Kenneth Weiss has since focused on harpsichord recitals and, with his ensemble Le Salon-Paris, Baroque chamber music programmes around the harpsichord and programmes inspired by the Parisian salons of the 19th Century around the pianoforte, performing in numerous festivals and concerts halls around the world, most recently at the Innsbruck, Saintes, Lanaudière, Strasbourg and Ambronay festivals, and in the Bozar season in Brussels. In May 2003 he played Bach’s 5th Brandenburg Concerto with Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante in Italie and Geneva, and in December 2003 gave two harpsichord recitals in Paris - Scarlatti at the Théâtre du Châtelet and Rameau at the Cité de la musique.
In collaboration with the choreographer Trisha Brown, Kenneth Weiss is musical director of M.O., a ballet on Bach’s Musical Offering, first performed at La Monnaie in Brussels. In May 1999 he was invited by William Christie to conduct Les Arts Florissants in Doux Mensonges by the choreographer Jiri Kylian at the Paris Opera, a production which has since been revived in March 2001 and February 2004. Kenneth Weiss is also co-director with William Christie of Les Arts Florissants’ Jardin des Voix programme.
In 1995 Kenneth Weiss’s recording of the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) for Empreinte Digitale (distribution Harmonia Mundi) was acclaimed by Répertoire as "an astonishing and one of the most intelligent recordings (of the Golbergs), to be placed next to those of Leonhardt and Verlet". In a review of his recording of Bach’s Partitas, released in 2001 on the Satirino Records label, the French newpaper Le Monde wrote that Kenneth Weiss "has produced a masterpiece… His calm, composed and subtle approach to these dance suites is magnificently noble." His recording of Scarlatti sonatas has been equally well received and a further recording of Rameau Opera and Ballet transcriptions was released in December 2003, both for Satirino Records.
Kenneth Weiss has taught at the Oberlin Conservatory (USA) and the Oslo Royal Conservatory. He teaches at the Paris Conservatory. |
