Dag Achatz
Encyclopedia
Dag Achatz is a Swedish
virtuoso
pianist and composer. His recording for BIS of his own transcription, for piano 2 hands, of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
is widely acknowledged to be one of the great recordings of the 20th century. Leonard Bernstein
asked him to transcribe his ballet, Fancy Free, which Mr Achatz then recorded along with his own transcription of Bernstein's Symphonic Danses from West Side Story.
Born in Stockholm in 1942 of a Swedish mother and a Viennese father, both musicians, he was raised in Switzerland, where he entered the Geneva Conservatory at age of 8. Graduating with honors, he continued his studies with Greta Eriksson in Stockholm, with Adolf Cortot and Guido Agosti in Siena, and with Susanne Roche and Vlado Perlemuter
in Paris. In 1960 he claimed victory in the Rudolf Ganz
Competition in Lausanne, and in 1964 took first price at the coveted Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona. He was also a prizewinner at the Bavarian Radio Competition in Munich and the Viotti Competition
in Vercelli. He has since performed in more than 25 countries and in most major musical Centers, including London, Paris, New York, Boston, Berlin, Moscow, St Petersburg
, Vienna, Tokyo and Beijing.
Mr Achatz has played more than 1000 recitals and has performed more than 240 times with orchestras including the radio orchestras of Stockholm, Munich, Paris, Stuttgart, Torino, Milan, and with the Orchestre de Pasdeloup of Paris, l´Orchestre de l´Opera de Monte Carlo, the Gewandhaus of Leipzig, the Staatskapelle of Dresden, and with the Philarmonic Orchestras of Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona and Lisbon. He has participated in the international music festivals of Montreux, Aix-en-Provence and Savonlina in Finland. He has also collaborated with many eminent conductors, including Celibidache, Bernstein, Kertesz, Zinmann, Kamu, Maris Jansons and others. His master classes have taken him to the Academie-Festival des Arcs in France, the Institute of Advanced Musical Studies in Montreux, the Osaka Conservatory in Japan, and the Umea International Academy in Sweden.
Dag Achatz serves frequently on the juries of international competitions, including those at Jaen, the Clara Haskil
, Vercelli, Paris, Oporto, Munich, (Bavarian Radio Orchestra Competition), and many others.
In chamber music
and lieder, he has performed with the Da Ponte Quartet, the Fresk String Quartet
, with singers Barbara Hendricks
, Birgit Finnilä
, Hugues Cuenod and Joanna Porackova, and in four-hand music with Yukie Nagai. He has made more than two dozen recordings for BIS, CBS, EMI, Melodiya and Americus Records. His best-selling CD of the music of Gershwin, on the BIS label, has been widely praised, as are his recordings of Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, Schumann, Liszt, Stenhammar, Grieg and many others.
Outside the established classical music world, he also worked on stage with French singer-songwriter Léo Ferré
, during the mid-70's.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
pianist and composer. His recording for BIS of his own transcription, for piano 2 hands, of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring, original French title Le sacre du printemps , is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky; choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky; and concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich...
is widely acknowledged to be one of the great recordings of the 20th century. Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
asked him to transcribe his ballet, Fancy Free, which Mr Achatz then recorded along with his own transcription of Bernstein's Symphonic Danses from West Side Story.
Born in Stockholm in 1942 of a Swedish mother and a Viennese father, both musicians, he was raised in Switzerland, where he entered the Geneva Conservatory at age of 8. Graduating with honors, he continued his studies with Greta Eriksson in Stockholm, with Adolf Cortot and Guido Agosti in Siena, and with Susanne Roche and Vlado Perlemuter
Vlado Perlemuter
Vlado Perlemuter was a Lithuanian-born French pianist.-Biography:Vlado Perlemuter was born to a Polish Jewish family, the third of four sons, in Kovno, Russia . At the age of three, he lost the use of his left eye in an accident.His family settled in France in 1907...
in Paris. In 1960 he claimed victory in the Rudolf Ganz
Rudolph Ganz
Rudolph Ganz was a Swiss pianist, conductor and composer. He claimed direct descent from Charlemagne.-Biography:...
Competition in Lausanne, and in 1964 took first price at the coveted Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona. He was also a prizewinner at the Bavarian Radio Competition in Munich and the Viotti Competition
Viotti International Music Competition
The Viotti International Music Competition , named after the Italian composer and violinist Gian Battista Viotti , is held every year in Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy...
in Vercelli. He has since performed in more than 25 countries and in most major musical Centers, including London, Paris, New York, Boston, Berlin, Moscow, St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Vienna, Tokyo and Beijing.
Mr Achatz has played more than 1000 recitals and has performed more than 240 times with orchestras including the radio orchestras of Stockholm, Munich, Paris, Stuttgart, Torino, Milan, and with the Orchestre de Pasdeloup of Paris, l´Orchestre de l´Opera de Monte Carlo, the Gewandhaus of Leipzig, the Staatskapelle of Dresden, and with the Philarmonic Orchestras of Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona and Lisbon. He has participated in the international music festivals of Montreux, Aix-en-Provence and Savonlina in Finland. He has also collaborated with many eminent conductors, including Celibidache, Bernstein, Kertesz, Zinmann, Kamu, Maris Jansons and others. His master classes have taken him to the Academie-Festival des Arcs in France, the Institute of Advanced Musical Studies in Montreux, the Osaka Conservatory in Japan, and the Umea International Academy in Sweden.
Dag Achatz serves frequently on the juries of international competitions, including those at Jaen, the Clara Haskil
Clara Haskil
Clara Haskil was a Romanian classical pianist, renowned as an interpreter of the classical and early romantic repertoire....
, Vercelli, Paris, Oporto, Munich, (Bavarian Radio Orchestra Competition), and many others.
In chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
and lieder, he has performed with the Da Ponte Quartet, the Fresk String Quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
, with singers Barbara Hendricks
Barbara Hendricks
Barbara Hendricks is an African American operatic soprano and concert singer. Hendricks has lived in Europe since 1977, and in Switzerland on Lake Geneva since 1985, She is a citizen of Sweden.-Early life and education:...
, Birgit Finnilä
Birgit Finnilä
Birgit Finnilä is a Swedish contralto and opera singer.Finnilä was born in Falkenberg, Sweden and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She made her operatic debut in Göteborg in 1963...
, Hugues Cuenod and Joanna Porackova, and in four-hand music with Yukie Nagai. He has made more than two dozen recordings for BIS, CBS, EMI, Melodiya and Americus Records. His best-selling CD of the music of Gershwin, on the BIS label, has been widely praised, as are his recordings of Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, Schumann, Liszt, Stenhammar, Grieg and many others.
Outside the established classical music world, he also worked on stage with French singer-songwriter Léo Ferré
Léo Ferré
Léo Ferré was a Franco-Monegasque poet, composer, singer and musician.Born in Monaco, Ferré mixed love and melancholy with moral anarchy, lyricism with slang, rhyming verse with prose monologues...
, during the mid-70's.