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tonebase Piano Course

The Pleasures of Contemporary Music: Ursula Oppens in Conversation

Taught by renowned pianist

Ursula Oppens

American pianist Ursula Oppens is one of the foremost interpreters of contemporary music of the past half-century, having worked closely with the likes of Elliott Carter, Frederic Rzewski, and Conlon Nancarrow, among others. Join Oppens as she discusses the joys and challenges of contemporary music with tonebase Head of Piano Ben Laude. The first part of the discussion centers around Elliott Carter, whose complete piano music can be heard in Oppens' recent GRAMMY-nominated album "Oppens Plays Carter." The conversation expands from there, touching on the benefits contemporary music study brings to all-around musicianship, the innovations in timbre and meter in 20th-century music, and the often misunderstood democratic ideals embedded in contemporary music aesthetics.

  • checkmark icon
    Category: 
    Skills
  • checkmark icon
    Difficulty: 
    All-Levels
  • checkmark icon
    Duration: 
    1
     hours
     hour

Course Syllabus

The Pleasures of Contemporary Music: Ursula Oppens in Conversation

American pianist Ursula Oppens is one of the foremost interpreters of contemporary music of the past half-century, having worked closely with the likes of Elliott Carter, Frederic Rzewski, and Conlon Nancarrow, among others. Join Oppens as she discusses the joys and challenges of contemporary music with tonebase Head of Piano Ben Laude. The first part of the discussion centers around Elliott Carter, whose complete piano music can be heard in Oppens' recent GRAMMY-nominated album "Oppens Plays Carter." The conversation expands from there, touching on the benefits contemporary music study brings to all-around musicianship, the innovations in timbre and meter in 20th-century music, and the often misunderstood democratic ideals embedded in contemporary music aesthetics.

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Ursula Oppens
meet YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Ursula Oppens

A prolific and critically acclaimed recording artist with five Grammy nominations, no other artist alive today has commissioned and premiered more new works for the piano.

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Ursula Oppens
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