Joseph Alfidi
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Joseph Alfidi (May 28, 1949 – February 2, 2015) was an
America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
n pianist,
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...
, and
conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...
and initially a
child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...
. He was born in Yonkers, New York, as the son of American-born parents of Italian descent. His father, Frank Alfidi, was an accordion player who ran a music school in Yonkers. Known as "Joey" in his childhood, he was three when he started to play several instruments in his father's studio. By the age of four, he frequently improvised little compositions at the piano, and soon became fascinated by symphonic music as well.


Biography

At the age of six, he had professional engagements to conduct the Miami Symphony Orchestra in Florida and members of the New York Philharmonic on Long Island. On November 18, 1956, the seven-year-old appeared in
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
, conducting the Symphony of the Air. The ambitious program included two overtures,
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's ''
The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...
'' and
Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...
's ''William Tell'', as well as Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony and
Beethoven's 5th Symphony The Symphony No. 5 in C minor of Ludwig van Beethoven, Op. 67, was written between 1804 and 1808. It is one of the best-known compositions in classical music and one of the most frequently played symphonies, and it is widely considered one of t ...
.Claude Kenneson, Musical Prodigies: Perilous Journeys, Remarkable Lives (hardback), Amadeus Press, 2003, pg 280. He appeared on two CBS Television Network
Goodson-Todman Fremantle (; formerly FremantleMedia) is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television in ...
produced game-shows. On November 14, 1956, he was a guest on '' I've Got a Secret'' starring Garry Moore where he performed on four different instruments. On November 17, 1957, at the age of eight, he was a guest on the panel show '' What's My Line?''. Further appearances in New York with the Symphony of the Air followed in 1957, 1958, and 1960, and Joey conducted in many other American cities and toured Europe. He attended rehearsals and concerts led by Leopold Stokowski, Guido Cantelli,
Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in ...
, Sir Thomas Beecham, and
Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
. He was invited to the Vatican where he performed for Pope John XXIII, who said the boy might turn out to be "another
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
". Joey continued to perform as a piano virtuoso and to write symphonic compositions, chamber music, and piano works as he mastered
conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...
. In late November 1960, the 11-year-old appeared with the Antwerp Philharmonic and was hailed as "the greatest child prodigy since Mozart". On December 1, 1960, he gave a royal command performance at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels before the Dowager Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, appearing in his multiple roles as pianist, conductor, and composer. The live recording of this concert, released as a 2-LP set called "Command Performance", contains his own Piano Concerto No 2, Beethoven Symphony No 8, Beethoven 3rd Piano Concerto, Chopin Etude Op. 25 No 12, and Rachmaninoff Prelude in C-sharp Minor. He accepted an invitation from Queen Elisabeth to study at the Brussels Conservatory, where his teachers included Eduardo del Pueyo and Jean Absil. In 1965, he received his Diplôme Supérieur for the piano and joined the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth for a three-year term of study. In 1972, Alfidi entered the prestigious
Queen Elisabeth Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition ( nl, Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd, french: Concours musical international Reine Élisabeth) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in Brussels. The competition is named after Queen ...
in Brussels and won 3rd prize in a tightly contested field, placing ahead of the Polish-American Emanuel Ax and Frenchman
Cyprien Katsaris Cyprien Katsaris ( el, Κυπριανός Κατσαρής; born 5 May 1951) is a French- Cypriot virtuoso pianist, teacher and composer. Amongst his teachers were Monique de la Bruchollerie, a student of Emil von Sauer, who had been a pupil o ...
, highly celebrated pianists in their own right. The following year, he took First Prize at the 1973
Concours Complet International The Concours Complet International (CCI) is the competition rating for the equestrian sport of eventing, given by the international governing body for the sport, the FEI. The rating system was recently changed, effective January 1, 2019. Originall ...
in
Ourense Ourense (; es, Orense ) is a city and capital of the province of Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path of the Way of St ...
, Spain. Several of Alfidi's performances from the 1972 Queen Elisabeth Competition were issued on LP, including his live Rachmaninov 3rd Concerto from the final round with the Belgian National Orchestra (on the Deutsche Grammophon label), and various solo and duo pieces including works of Samuel Barber ; Frédéric Chopin ( Ballade No 1, Barcarolle, Scherzo Nos 2 & 4); Beethoven (
Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...
, Pathétique, Appassionata Sonatas); Rachmaninoff's Piano Suites Nos 1 & 2 and Symphonic Dances Op 45, Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead Op 29 (in an arrangement for two pianos), as well as Gershwin's Concerto for piano and orchestra in F – all with the Flanders Philharmonic conducted by Theodor Bloomfield. He made a number of studio recordings for EMI Belgium including the Leduc Piano Concerto, Brahms Piano Sonata No 3 in F minor and another album with Schumann Kinderszenen, Alfidi 2 Etudes, Franck Prelude Chorale and Fugue, and pieces by Rachmaninov.
Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist.
, one of the 20th century's greatest pianists, heard Alfidi's LP recording of the Rachmaninov 3rd Concerto and was very impressed by it.Harvey Sachs, Rubinstein: A Life, Grove Press, 1995, pg 399. In 1979, the French film maker
François Reichenbach François Reichenbach (3 July 1921 – 2 February 1993) was a French film director, cinematographer producer and screenwriter. He directed 40 films between 1954 and 1993. Early life François Reichenbach was born in 1921 in Neuilly-sur-S ...
produced for Televisa-Mexico a series of documentaries, including one entitled ''Arthur Rubinstein and the Young - Joe Alfidi & Arthur Rubinstein'' in which Alfidi is invited to Rubinstein's Paris apartment, and is shown performing excerpts from Liszt Sonata in B minor, Chopin Scherzo No 2, Rachmaninov 3rd Piano Concerto and Alfidi's own original composition. Rubinstein expresses his admiration for Alfidi whom he describes as a "great musician" and predicts that he would become "one of the finest pianists of our time". Around the same period, Rubinstein persuaded the conductor Emmanuel Krivine to engage Alfidi as soloist with Radio France's Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique. In 1982, Alfidi appeared on European television, performing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 4 with the RTBF Nouvel Orchestra (of Belgium) under
Meir Minsky Meir Minsky (born 16 April 1949) is an American, Israeli, and Belgian conductor. A frequent guest among leading orchestras he has performed with more than one hundred different orchestras worldwide, including the Munich Philharmonic, the Isra ...
. A concert featuring Alfidi as soloist with the Lorraine Philharmonic Orchestra was televised on French television
FR3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...
in November 1983. Joseph Alfidi later resided in Belgium where he taught piano at the Royal Conservatory of Liège. He died on 2 February 2015, at the age of 65.


References


Further reading


(1956). "SYMPHONY OF AIR PLAYS; BOY LEADS; Joey Alfidi of Yonkers Makes Debut as Conductor at Age of 7 in Carnegie Hall". "New York Times". November 19.
*[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F14FF3C59127A93CBAB1782D85F4C8585F9&scp=1&sq=alfidi&st=cse Briggs, John (1958). "JOEY ALFIDI, AGE 9, LEADS ORCHESTRA; Conducts Symphony of Air at Carnegie Hall Benefit for Italian Charities". "New York Times". September 29.]
(1960). "JOEY ALFIDI HEARD IN A PIANO PROGRAM (Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor, Carnegie Hall)". "New York Times". May 14.
* ttps://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0C17FA3A541A7A93C0A91789D95F448685F9&scp=9&sq=alfidi&st=cse (1960). "JOEY ALFIDI HAILED IN BRUSSELS CONCERT". "New York Times". December 2.br>(1962). "JOEY ALFIDI PLAYS AT CARNEGIE HALL; Pianist, 13, Also Heard as Conductor and Composer". "New York Times". October 8.
* ttps://www.nytimes.com/1969/09/28/archives/joey-is-now-joseph-oey-is-now-loseph.html?sq=alfidi&scp=14&st=cse (1969). "Joey Is Now Joseph". "New York Times". September 28.br>Henahan, Donal (1969). "ALFIDI RETURNS IN PIANO RECITAL; Soloist Is Also Conductor in Philharmonic Hall Concert". "New York Times". October 6.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfidi, Joseph 1949 births 2015 deaths Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition American expatriates in Belgium American expatriate musicians Musicians from Yonkers, New York Royal Conservatory of Brussels alumni American people of Italian descent Academic staff of the Royal Conservatory of Liège 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century classical composers 20th-century conductors (music) 21st-century conductors (music) 21st-century classical composers 21st-century classical pianists American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists American male classical composers American classical composers Jewish classical pianists 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American composers Classical musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians