Susan Alexander-Max (died 26 January 2016) was an American-born British

fortepianist A fortepiano , sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Mo ...

best known for her period performances of

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and classical music. A graduate of the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

, she later studied with

Ilona Kabos Ilona Kabos (7 December 189327 May 1973) was a Hungarian-British pianist and teacher. Biography Kabos was born in Budapest in 1893 (some sources give her year of birth as 1894, 1898 or 1902). She studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music under ...

in London. She was a member of the period-instrument chamber group The Music Collection, with

Simon Standage Simon Andrew Thomas Standage (born 8 November 1941 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) is an English violinist and conductor best known for playing and conducting music of the baroque and classical eras on original instruments. Biography and ...

(

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

) and

Jennifer Ward Clarke Jennifer Ward Clarke (20 June 1935 – 1 March 2015) was a British cellist. After an early career in contemporary music, she later specialised in baroque music and performances on period instruments. Early life and career Jennifer Ward Clarke was ...

(

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 ...

). She was also a professor of piano at the

Guildhall School of Music & Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

Biography

Alexander-Max was born in New York City and recognised internationally as a leading fortepianist and clavichordist specialising in the music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Having graduated from the

, she won a scholarship to study with

in London. She was a finalist in the International Bach Competition and performed, recorded and taught extensively throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, the Far East and Europe. A featured performer on international radio and television, she has played, as soloist and chamber musician, in festivals, museums and galleries, universities and music colleges world-wide. Alexander-Max performed at the Cheltenham International Festival of Music, Queen's Festival of Early Music, Belfast, the English Haydn Festival, the Haydn Festival, Eisenstadt, Austria, the Vleeshuis Museum, Antwerp and the Prague Spring International Festival of Music. She was a frequent guest artist at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York City. A professor at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

in London until 1996, she directed the chamber ensemble, The Music Collection, and the educational project, Music in Schools. As a specialist in early keyboards, she gave masterclasses and lecture recitals internationally. She taught at universities in England, Ireland, the United States, and China, as well as the masterclass series at the Juilliard School of Music, New York City, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse, Paris, and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. As a recording artist, she performed the Chamber Music of Hummel, the Early Piano Sonatas of Clementi and the complete keyboard works of Domenico Zipoli, volume 2. This latter CD was recorded in conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, on their Cristofori fortepiano of 1720. The second in the series of Chamber Music by Hummel was awarded BBC's recommendation of the month. Her latest CD of Clementi Piano Sonatas was released, as well as the Concertos of Johann Christian Bach. Susan Alexander-Max died on 26 January 2016.

References

External links

The Music Collection website
* http://www.naxos.com/artistinfo/Susan_Alexander_Max/2750.htm

Biography

References

External links

See also