Kuyken, David (18th June 19??-Present)

Pianist from The Netherlands who has performed an eclectic mix of music over a twenty-plus year career, including an arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s “Scherzo a la Russe” for piano forty hands. In 1982, he was the pianist du jour at a lecture entitled “Bel Canto on a Percussion Instrument?” that featured him playing examples by composers ranging from Beethoven to Thalberg. He was honoured with the title of laureate at the Eindhoven Tromp concourse and took second place in 1990 at an international piano competition which was held in Spain.

In 1994, he began a collaboration with fellow pianist Brenno Ambrosini and they performed together in tandem with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2001 under the direction of the late Hans Vonk. On 14^th February 2003, they participated in an evening of music and poetry at De Rode Hoed in Amsterdam, one of David’s frequent haunts. David performed Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 in C” with the Holland Symfonia in Amsterdam in the fall of 2004. On 17^th November 2005, he invited several of his friends to join him on stage at the Royal Concertgebouw when he peformed Ernest Chausson’s “Andante and Allegro for Clarinet and Piano” with Celeste Zewald. He organized a similar event on 14^th March 2006 to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of his musical career on NPR.

Active in the field of musical education, his students include Juan Chattah, David Lopez Corral, Fernando Gomes, David Herman, Vera Kooper, Nicolas van Poucke, Abigail Richards, Eke Simons, Froukje Verhagen, and Jaap Wisselink. He also coordinates studies at Conservatorium van Amsterdam and has taught master classes as a member of the European Piano Teachers Association.

His wide and variegated recordings include the mouthful of an album title, David Kuyken Plays Dirk Schafer, Alphons Diepenbrock & Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer, Discovering Dutch Ensembles, Dutch Violin Sonatas, with Candida Thompson, Jurriaan Andriessen, Piano Concertos of the Netherlands, and 20^th Century English Music for Oboe. He can also be heard playing Schubert on The Piano: The Ultimate Piano Collection of the Century, Schubert: Piano Sonatas (Complete) and the massive boxed set, Schubert: The Masterworks.

Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra recordings
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Kees van Baaren)
NM Classics 92058 (Piano Concertos of the Netherlands)
Conductor – Alexander Vedernikov

Sources:

Kuyken, David (18th June 19??-Present)

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