Press Releases
NEXT GESKE LECTURER IS BART VAN OORT
Lincoln, Neb.—Bart van Oort, who teaches fortepiano and is a lecturer in historical performance practice at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (The Netherlands), the Conservatory of Amsterdam and at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp, will be the next presenter of the Geske Lecture.
Van Oort's lecture, entitled "Speaking or Singing? Translating Early Music" will be on Monday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception, sponsored by the Fine and Performing Arts Alumni Board, will immediately follow the lecture in the Sheldon Great Hall.
His lecture/recital will include a short history of the differences between the fortepiano and the modern piano, and a demonstration of the consequences for actual performance. As with all instruments, the piano developed from an instrument that could speak into an instrument that could sing. Much of what was notated with great care and sense for detail by composers from the classical period cannot, or only by compromising, be performed on the modern piano. Starting in the early 19th century, this 'corruption' has led to a performance tradition that, in many ways, does not do full justice to the original intentions of the composers. Using an early instrument we can get new insights in the score, in piano technique and the style in general.
After completing his modern piano degree at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 1983, van Oort studied fortepiano with Stanley Hoogland, also at the Royal Conservatory. In 1986 he won both first prize and the special Prize of the Audience at the Mozart Fortepiano Competition in Bruges, Belgium. In 1988 he won third prize at the CPE Bach competition in Hamburg, where he competed on both the fortepiano and the clavichord. He subsequently studied with Malcolm Bilson at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) and received a Doctor of Musical Arts in Historical Performance Practice in 1993.
Van Oort has performed in many European countries and appeared at festivals in Utrecht, Florence, Berlin, Antwerp, Bruges, Melbourne, Brisbane, York, Clisson, Montpellier, and Esterhaza. He has also performed in the U.S.A. and New Zealand, and makes yearly concert and lecturing tours throughout Australia. Since 1997 van Oort has made some 40 recordings of chamber music and solo repertory, including piano trios by Mozart, Hummel, and Beethoven, and the piano quartets of Mozart, all with his ensemble The Van Swieten Society (formerly Musica Classica).
The Norman and Jane Geske Lectureship in the History of the Arts was established in 1995 through the generosity of Norman and Jane Geske and features noted scholars in the history of the visual arts, music, theatre, dance, film, or architecture. The lectures are intended to advance the understanding and appreciation of the arts with creative writing and thinking that reflect the importance of historical perspective of the arts. The invited scholar will present a public lecture open to the campus and the community, focused ideally on a single work, art form, or artist that will subsequently be published and distributed to major research libraries throughout the United States.
