{"id":46482,"date":"2017-07-28T17:32:15","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T21:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=46482"},"modified":"2017-07-28T17:32:15","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T21:32:15","slug":"preview-anton-kuerti-to-resurface-for-his-tribute-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/07\/28\/preview-anton-kuerti-to-resurface-for-his-tribute-concert\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW |\u00a0Anton Kuerti To Resurface For His Tribute Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Anton
Anton Kuerti at the 2011 Toronto Summer Music Festival (Photo courtesy TSM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nearly four years ago in October 2013, news of Anton Kuerti\u2019s stroke mid-performance in Miami<\/a><\/span> sent shock waves throughout the international classical music community. Since the event, his family had been keeping information on the concert pianist’s road to recovery closely guarded<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Next week, Toronto Summer Music will be lifting the suspense in A Tribute to Anton Kuerti<\/em>, a concert which the honoree himself is expected to attend. It is probably the most-anticipated event in this year\u2019s festival, one which Jonathan Crow tasked upon himself to organise in his inaugural term as TSM Artistic Director.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnton is someone who greatly inspired me as a young artist\u2014I heard him regularly on CBC Radio as a child, and had the opportunity to work with and learn from him several times as a young professional,\u201d Crow shared in a statement with Musical Toronto. \u201cWhen I\u2019m thinking of great Canadian artists, performers and role models he is one of the first people who comes to mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crow invited Canadian concert pianist Jane Coop to star in the August 3rd tribute, for which she was granted carte blanche<\/em> for the evening\u2019s programme. \u201cI chose a programme that I thought he would like,\u201d Coop revealed to Musical Toronto in a video interview. \u201cSo I think he\u2019ll be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

This will be Coop\u2019s TSM debut, and she will be in good company with Laura Pudwell, Barry Shiffman, Douglas McNabney and Joseph Johnson joining her on stage. She is also expecting to feel Kuerti\u2019s presence in the hall: \u201cAs far as I know (and I\u2019m pretty sure about that), he\u2019s coming to the concert. Which will make me very nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto holds a central place for both Kuerti and Coop in their musical careers. In addition, Kuerti had a direct, indelible influence on Coop\u2019s formative years: she worked closely with him at the University of Toronto, first as his student during her undergraduate piano studies, then as his teaching assistant from 1975 to 1979. Stepping in to teach Kuerti\u2019s students while he was away on tour, she would eventually embark on her own teaching career that spans the B.C. coast to the New England shoreline.<\/p>\n

\"Jane
Jane Coop (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201c[The stroke] was a devastating blow to somebody who was at the top of his game,\u201d Coop intones. The question on everybody\u2019s mind is, how has Kuerti\u2019s condition been since the incident? Coop is one of the few who have accessed the pianist’s inner circle during his ongoing rehabilitation: \u201cHe\u2019s still in recovery mode\u2014he\u2019s getting better. I\u2019ve gone to his house; we\u2019ve read some four-hand stuff and he\u2019s been playing on his own. [\u2026] I don\u2019t think it\u2019s been a big secret, but he\u2019s been living a pretty private life, because he\u2019s trying to concentrate on things that will help him in his recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can we expect that Kuerti will be able to return to the concert stage? \u201cAt the moment, no, but one never knows what the end result will be.\u201d Has Kuerti himself expressed hopes to resume public performance? \u201cHe\u2019s just taking it one day at a time at the moment. He\u2019s still thinking about music and spending time at the piano, but he\u2019s not in a position to make that call, and neither is anyone else. So unfortunately, I can\u2019t make a solid prediction\u2014I know that everybody would love to hear that \u2018yes or no,\u2019 but I can\u2019t [make that call].\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first significant setback in Kuerti\u2019s personal life: just over 10 years ago, he lost his wife Kristine Bogyo to cancer. \u201cThat was a tough thing. After [Bogyo] died, it was a tough blow for him but he kind of leapt to the fore with his own work and was playing more than ever, just to keep himself busy, because that\u2019s what he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catherine Berthiaume has been a steadfast source of support to Kuerti since before the health episode. In light of the tribute concert, Berthiaume conveyed her partner\u2019s thoughts to Musical Toronto on his behalf: \u201cAs a very proud Canadian wherever he goes for more than 50 years now, Anton is delighted that the TSMF thought of him as an artist to honour for the sesquicentennial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time will tell the extent of Kuerti\u2019s recovery. In the short term, the tribute concert will be a momentous occasion to honour a living legend whose colleagues, in the words of Jane Coop, considered him \u201cthe most underrated pianist in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more CLASSICAL MUSIC NEWS, visit\u00a0HERE<\/u><\/a><\/span>.<\/h3>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MT takes a first look into the revered pianist’s condition since his stroke, setting the stage for TSM’s tribute concert featuring Jane Coop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":46483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,76,19,4557,59,63],"tags":[317,9705,3356],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/07\/Kuerti.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-c5I","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46482"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46515,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46482\/revisions\/46515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46482"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=46482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}