Michael Kieran Harvey (born 7 July 1961) is an Australian
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 ...
and
composer whose career has been notable for its diversity and wide repertoire. He is renowned for commissioning, performing and composing new music. He has especially promoted the works of Australian composers, such as
Carl Vine
Carl Edward Vine, (born 8 October 1954) is an Australian composer of contemporary classical music.
From 1975 he has worked as a freelance pianist and composer with a variety of theatre and dance companies, and ensembles. Vine's catalogue inclu ...
, most of whose piano music he has recorded and much of which was written for him. He is also particularly associated with the piano music of
Olivier Messiaen.
According to critic Clive O'Connell in ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...
'': "Few Australian pianists can touch Michael Kieran Harvey, one of the most exciting exponents of contemporary music in the country".
Biography
Family
Michael Kieran Harvey was born in
Sydney in 1961. He says that as a child he had great difficulty in coming to terms with being a musician, as he played four different codes of football and was also involved in surf lifesaving.
[Ben Holgate, "Classical champion", '']The Weekend Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatewat ...
'', 6–7 September 1999. His brother, Dominic, was head of brass at the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...
and is a noted conductor; his sister
Bernadette
Bernadette is a French name, a female form of the name Bernard, which means "brave bear". Notable persons with the name include: People
* Bernadette (singer) (born 1959), Dutch singer
* Bernadette Allen (born 1956), American foreign service of ...
, is a pianist.
[Sunday, 20 April 2003]
and another sister, Rowan Harvey-Martin, is a violinist and noted conductor.
(pic), Ron Cerebona, ''The Canberra Times
''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times.
History
''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...
'', 31 March 2014. His mother, Anne (a student of
Alexander Sverjensky), abandoned her plans to become a concert pianist when her own father died in her mid-teens. His father, Francis, was a journalist and for a time a freelance cellist.
[ He is married to pianist Arabella Teniswood-Harvey. Michael has two children, Isabella and Raphael, by his first marriage, to pianist Denise Papaluca.
]
Background
Harvey studied piano at the Canberra School of Music with Alan Jenkins, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music (formerly the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music and known by the moniker "The Con") is a heritage-listed music school in Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the old ...
under Gordon Watson, and at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music
The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music ( hu, Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the ...
, Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, under Sándor Falvai. He first came to international prominence by jointly winning, with Edith Chen, the 1993 International Solo Piano Competition founded by Ivo Pogorelić
Ivo Pogorelić (also Ivo Pogorelich; born 20 October 1958) is a Yugoslav-born Croatian pianist. He is known for his sometimes unorthodox interpretations, which have brought him a sizable following and both praise and criticism from musical ...
in Pasadena, California, in which he performed Carl Vine
Carl Edward Vine, (born 8 October 1954) is an Australian composer of contemporary classical music.
From 1975 he has worked as a freelance pianist and composer with a variety of theatre and dance companies, and ensembles. Vine's catalogue inclu ...
's Piano Sonata No. 1.
At the time, this was the world's richest piano competition. He entered the competition not believing he could win, but as an excuse to go to Los Angeles to see Frank Zappa, who was very ill, and to seek permission to play his piano music in public. However, Zappa died of cancer on the day of the finals and Harvey did not meet him. His manager from Columbia Artists Management was Ronald Wilford, who was Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; September 25, 1932October 4, 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was one of the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, and was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann ...
's manager, and at that stage Ivo Pogorelić's own manager.
Career
He has premiered many new Australian concertos by composers such as Yitzhak Yedid, Carl Vine
Carl Edward Vine, (born 8 October 1954) is an Australian composer of contemporary classical music.
From 1975 he has worked as a freelance pianist and composer with a variety of theatre and dance companies, and ensembles. Vine's catalogue inclu ...
, Nigel Westlake, Paul Grabowsky
Paul Atherstone Grabowsky (born 27 September 1958) is an Australian pianist and composer.
Biography
Born in Lae, Papua New Guinea, Grabowsky is a pianist and composer of music for film, theatre and opera. His father Alistair had lived in Pap ...
, Larry Sitsky
Lazar "Larry" Sitsky (born 10 September 1934) is an Australian composer, pianist, and music educator and scholar. His long term legacy is still to be assessed, but through his work to date he has made a significant contribution to the Austra ...
, Barry Conyngham, Don Kay, and Eve Duncan
Eve Duncan is a fictional forensic sculptor in a series of suspense thriller novels by American writer Iris Johansen. Several of the books have been ''New York Times'' bestsellers.
The series includes three self-contained trilogies that incorpor ...
.
He has given Australian premieres of important international works by Louis Andriessen
Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...
, Stefan Wolpe, Donald Martino
Donald James Martino (May 16, 1931 – December 8, 2005) was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer.
Biography
Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino attended Plainfield High School. He began as a clarinetist, playing jazz for fun and ...
, Frank Zappa, Jon Lord
John Douglas Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English orchestral and rock composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player known for his pioneering work in fusing rock with classical or baroque forms, especially with the British rock band Deep ...
(of Deep Purple), Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar, producer) and Carl Palmer (drums, percus ...
), Beat Furrer
Beat Furrer (born 6 December 1954) is a Swiss-born Austrian composer and conductor. He has served as professor of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz since 1991. He was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 201 ...
and Milton Babbitt.
Harvey has worked with conductors such as Edo de Waart
Edo de Waart (born 1 June 1941, Amsterdam) is a Dutch conductor. He is Music Director Laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. De Waart is the former chief conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (2011-2016), Artistic Partner with the ...
, Reinbert de Leeuw
Reinbert de Leeuw (8 September 1938 – 14 February 2020) was a Dutch conductor, pianist and composer.
Life
Lambertus Reinier de Leeuw's mother and father were both psychiatrists: Cornelis Homme 'Kees' de Leeuw (1905-1953) and Adriana Judina ...
, Diego Masson
Diego Masson (born 21 June 1935) is a French conductor, composer, and percussionist.
The son of artist André Masson and brother of the singer and actor Luís Masson, Diego Masson was born in Tossa de Mar, Spain. He studied piano and compositi ...
, Markus Stenz
Markus Stenz (born 28 February 1965, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a German conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa.
Stenz has ...
and Kristjan Järvi
Kristjan Järvi (, alternate (U.S.) spelling: Kristian Järvi) (born 13 June 1972, Tallinn) is an Estonian American conductor, composer and producer born in Estonia, younger son of the conductor Neeme Järvi and brother of conductor Paavo Järv ...
, and has collaborated with the Arditti Quartet, the Netherlands
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and Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
Philharmonics, Jon Lord
John Douglas Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English orchestral and rock composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player known for his pioneering work in fusing rock with classical or baroque forms, especially with the British rock band Deep ...
, Keith Emerson, and Paul Grabowsky
Paul Atherstone Grabowsky (born 27 September 1958) is an Australian pianist and composer.
Biography
Born in Lae, Papua New Guinea, Grabowsky is a pianist and composer of music for film, theatre and opera. His father Alistair had lived in Pap ...
. He regularly appears as soloist with Australian symphony orchestras.
He has performed and recorded most of Olivier Messiaen's works involving piano to high critical acclaim. In 2005 he released a live 3-CD recording of the Australian premiere of the entire ''Catalogue d'oiseaux'' featuring Peter Cundall
Peter Joseph Cundall, (1 April 1927 – 5 December 2021) was an English-born Australian horticulturalist, conservationist, author, broadcaster and television personality. He lived in Tasmania's Tamar Valley, and until 2008, at the age of 81, ...
as narrator. Despite his close association with Messiaen's music Harvey is an atheist, who describes himself as having escaped Catholicism in his early teens, as did Frank Zappa.
He has recorded Carl Vine's complete piano music (including the 12 Preludes of 2006), much of which was written for him. He commissioned Nigel Westlake's Piano Sonatas I (1998) and II (2004) and Piano Concerto (2000) and gave the premiere performances. Harvey has commissioned and recorded major Australian piano cycles by Larry Sitsky
Lazar "Larry" Sitsky (born 10 September 1934) is an Australian composer, pianist, and music educator and scholar. His long term legacy is still to be assessed, but through his work to date he has made a significant contribution to the Austra ...
, Mike Nock
Michael Anthony Nock (born 27 September 1940) is a New Zealand jazz pianist, currently based in Australia.
Biography
He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. Nock began studying piano at 11. He attended Nelson College for one term in 1955.' ...
, and Graham Hair, and promoted major works by Helen Gifford
Helen Margaret Gifford OAM (born 5 September 1935) is an Australian composer. On Australia Day (26 January) 1996 she was appointed to the Medal of the Order of Australia, "in recognition of service to music as a composer". At the APRA Music A ...
, Warren Burt, Eve Duncan
Eve Duncan is a fictional forensic sculptor in a series of suspense thriller novels by American writer Iris Johansen. Several of the books have been ''New York Times'' bestsellers.
The series includes three self-contained trilogies that incorpor ...
, Tom Henry
Thomas Christopher Henry
(biography), ''The Waynedale News'', September 1, 2009 (born November 8 ...
, and Brett Dean
Brett Dean (born 23 October 1961) is an Australian composer, violist and conductor.
Biography
Brett Dean was born, raised and educated in Brisbane. He started learning violin at the age of eight, and later studied viola with Elizabeth Morgan ...
.[" Michael Kieran Harvey : Represented Artist"](_blank)
Australian Music Centre
The Australian Music Centre (AMC), formerly known briefly as Sounds Australian, is a national organisation promoting and supporting art music in Australia, founded in 1974. It co-hosts the Art Music Awards along with APRA AMCOS, and publishes ...
Compositions
Harvey holds a PhD in composition and has recorded much of his own music.
Recordings
Legacy
In 2005 the Michael Kieran Harvey Scholarship was established and funded by Susan Mary Remington in honour of his contribution to Australian music, and to encourage future directions in keyboard art music.
Recipients: 2006 – Cameron Roberts; 2008 – Ashley Hribar; 2010 – Zubin Kanga; 2012 – Aura Go and Adam Cook; 2014 – Dr James Hullick; 2016 – Alex Raineri and Nicholas Young; 2018 – Rohan Drape; 2020 – Dr Anthony Pateras; 2022 - Ayesha Gough.
Honours and awards
* Joint Grand Prix in the 1993 International Solo Piano Competition (usually referred to as the Ivo Pogorelić
Ivo Pogorelić (also Ivo Pogorelich; born 20 October 1958) is a Yugoslav-born Croatian pianist. He is known for his sometimes unorthodox interpretations, which have brought him a sizable following and both praise and criticism from musical ...
Piano Competition, after its founder) in Pasadena, with Edith Chen
* Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
Medal (Paris 1985)
* Finalist, Inaugural International Franz Liszt Piano Competition
The International Franz Liszt Piano Competition ("Liszt Competition") is an international piano competition. It is a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions.
The Competition is held in Utrecht in the Netherlands. It fir ...
, Utrecht, Netherlands (1986)
* Awarded the Australian Government's Centenary Medal for services to Australian music (2002)
* Three times nominated for the Helpmann Award
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music.
, -
, 2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
, ''Messiaen: Twenty Contemplations of the Infant Jesus''
, ARIA Award for Best Classical Album
The ARIA Music Award for Best Classical Album, is an award presented within the Fine Arts Awards at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The ARIA Awards recognise "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", and have been given b ...
,
, -
, 2005
, ''Rabid Bay''
, Best Classical Album
,
, -
, 2007
, ''Carl Vine Piano Music 1990-2006''
, Best Classical Album
,
, -
Mo Awards
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards) were an annual Australian entertainment industry award, that where established in 1975, to recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia. They were l ...
), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Kieran Harvey won four awards in that time.
(wins only)
, -
, 1996
, Michael Kieran Harvey
, Classical Performer of the Year
,
, -
, 1997
, Michael Kieran Harvey
, Classical Performer of the Year
,
, -
, 1998
, Bernadette Balkus and Michael Kieran Harvey
, Classical Performer of the Year
,
, -
, 1999
, Michael Kieran Harvey
, Classical Performer of the Year
,
, -
Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards
The Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards
The Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards were created in 1984 by the trustees of the Sidney Myer Fund to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Sidney Myer
Sidney Myer (born Simcha Myer Baevski (); 8 February 18785 September 1934) was a Ru ...
commenced in 1984 and recognise outstanding achievements in dance, drama, comedy, music, opera, circus and puppetry.
, -
, 1994 , , Michael Kieran Harvey , , Individual Award , ,
, -
References
External links
Michael Kieran Harvey at the Australian Music Centre
with Andrew Ford
move: Michael Kieran Harvey
move: Catalogue d’oiseaux
Recitals Australia, Media Information
Sunday, 20 April 2003
University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Michael Kieran
1961 births
Living people
Australian classical pianists
Male classical pianists
Australian male composers
Australian composers
Musicians from Sydney
Sydney Conservatorium of Music alumni
21st-century classical pianists
21st-century Australian male musicians
21st-century Australian musicians