Friedemann Kupsa (* September 7, 1943 in St.Pölten,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) is an Austrian

Cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

. Friedemann Kupsa studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and attended masterclasses with Daniil Shafran (

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

) and the La Salle Quartet (

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

). He is a member of the

Munich Radio Orchestra The Munich Radio Orchestra (German: ''Münchner Rundfunkorchester'') is a German symphony broadcast orchestra based in Munich. It is one of the two orchestras affiliated with the Bavarian Radio (Bayerischer Rundfunk), the other being the Bavarian ...

. He has been a member of the Fanny Mendelssohn Quartet since 1986, receiving international acclaim for numerous first recordings on CD of music by

Fanny Mendelssohn Fanny Mendelssohn (14 November 1805 – 14 May 1847) was a German composer and pianist of the early Romantic era who was also known as Fanny (Cäcilie) Mendelssohn Bartholdy and, after her marriage, Fanny Hensel (as well as Fanny Mendelssohn He ...

-Hensel,

Ethel Smyth Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (; 22 April 18588 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Smyth tended t ...

Germaine Tailleferre Germaine Tailleferre (; born Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse; 19 April 18927 November 1983) was a French composer and the only female member of the group of composers known as ''Les Six''. Biography Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse was born at Sai ...

and

Grażyna Bacewicz Grażyna Bacewicz Biernacka (; 5 February 1909 – 17 January 1969) was a Polish composer and violinist. She is the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the ...

. With the

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Wolfram Lorenzen Wolfram Lorenzen (1951/1952 – 15 June 2020) was a German pianist. Biography Wolfram Lorenzen was born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic ...

he recorded the great chamber works of

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University ...

, and his commitment to 20th-century chamber music is further shown by his recording of the first eight string quartets by

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

and the two great quartets by

Arthur Bliss Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor. Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qu ...

. He made the first-ever recording of Ethel Smyth's two cello sonatas and has also attracted attention by recording cello works by Nadia Boulanger. In addition, together with the pianist Céline Dutilly, he issued a recording of the two works for cello and piano by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel: the Sonata o Fantasia, as a world premiere, and the Capriccio. Friedemann Kupsa has displayed his commitment to the music of the twentieth century with the world premiere recording of the Duo Sonatas by the Greek composer

Nikos Skalkottas Nikos Skalkottas ( el, Νίκος Σκαλκώτας; 21 March 1904 – 19 September 1949) was a Greek composer of 20th-century classical music. A member of the Second Viennese School, he drew his influences from both the classical repert ...

and the Romanian composer

Anatol Vieru Anatol Vieru (; 8 June 1926 – 8 October 1998) was a Romanian-Jewish music theoretician, pedagogue, and composer. A pupil of Aram Khachaturian, he composed seven symphonies, eight string quartets, concertos, and chamber music. He also wrote t ...

. Along with the Duo Sonatas by

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music ed ...

and the Variations by

Elizabeth Maconchy Dame Elizabeth Violet Maconchy LeFanu (; 19 March 1907 – 11 November 1994) was an Irish-English composer. She is considered to be one of the finest composers Great Britain and Ireland have produced. Biography Elizabeth Violet Maconchy was b ...

, Kupsa played the world premiere of the duo composition Strassenmusik No 16 by

Dimitri Nicolau Dimitri Nicolau (21 October 1946 in Keratea, Greece - 29 March 2008 in Rome, Italy) was a composer, stage director, conductor, musicologist, writer and professor. He was born in Keratea, Greece and became a naturalized citizen of Italy. Starting ...

, which is dedicated to the two soloists Renate Eggebrecht, violin, and Friedemann Kupsa, violoncello. With his ensemble, Kupsa has played numerous concerts, including at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Toblach Gustav Mahler Festival, the Chard Music Festival of Women, the Lucca Music Festival, the Munich Music Festival of Women, and the Moravia Festival, accompanied by radio productions and live television recordings.

Recordings

* Kodály, Maconchy, Vieru, Nicolau; Sonatas for Violin & Violoncello (Renate Eggebrecht, violin), 2002 * Ravel, Milhaud, Honegger, Skalkottas; Sonatas for Violin & Violoncello (Renate Eggebrecht, violin), 2000 * Reger; Piano Trio op. 102, Piano Quartets opp. 113 and 133, Piano Quintet op. 64 (Wolfram Lorenzen, piano), 1996–98 * Lutyens, Dinescu, Coates; String Quartets, 1997 * Bliss; String Quartets, 1995 * Milhaud; String Quartets Nr. 1–8, 1994–95 * Fanny Mendelssohn; Piano Quartet, String Quartet, Piano Trio, 1994, "Sonata o Fantasia", "Capriccio" for violoncello & piano, 2003 * Tailleferre; Piano Trio, String Quartet, 1992 * Bacewicz; String Quartets Nr. 4, 6, 7, 1991 * Smyth; Violoncello Sonata A-minor op. 5, String Quartet, String Quintet, 1990, Violoncello Sonata C-minor (1880), 1997 * Nadia Boulanger; Three Pieces for Violoncello & Piano (1913), 1993

External links

Friedemann Kupsa at the Munich Radio Orchestra

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kupsa, Friedemann 1943 births Austrian classical cellists Living people