One of Canada’s most acclaimed concert pianists, Anton Kuerti has been earning accolades throughout his long career. An Officer of the Order of Canada, he is a musician, composer, teacher, mentor, and recording artist, well-known for his complete recordings of Beethoven’s concertos and sonatas, the Schubert sonatas, and the Brahms concertos. This month, Kuerti will accept another honour when he is presented with The Banff Centre’s prestigious National Arts Award on August 18 during the Centre’s second summer Festival Orchestra concert.
Born in Vienna in 1938, and a Canadian citizen since 1984, Anton Kuerti has played in concert halls and music series across Canada and around the world. As a chamber musician, he has performed with artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Janos Starker, and the Cleveland, Guarneri, and Tokyo string quartets. Formerly artistic director of Music Toronto and the first Carl Czerny Music Festival, Kuerti has performed as a guest with leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Vancouver Symphony. In addition to past teaching positions with the University of Toronto, he has a long-standing involvement with The Banff Centre, as a faculty member and frequent guest artist
The National Arts Award was first given in 1951 originally as the University of Alberta National Arts Awards, and continued by The Banff Centre beginning in 1980. Recipients of this distinguished prize read like a who’s who of the top artists in Canada in visual, literary, and performing arts. Past honourees include Margaret Atwood, Zacharias Kunuk, Timothy Findley, Denys Arcand, Douglas Cardinal, Robertson Davies, R. Murray Schafer, Margaret Laurence, W.O. Mitchell, Jack McClelland, Maureen Forrester, Vincent Massey, A.Y. Jackson, and Mazo de la Roche.
Today, the National Arts Award consists of a $5,000 cash prize and a two-week creative residency at The Banff Centre’s Leighton Artists’ Studios. The award rotates between literary arts (including playwriting), media and visual arts, theatre or dance, music or opera, and Aboriginal arts. It recognizes significant contributions to the development of the arts in Canada, with an emphasis on artists who have dedicated a portion of their careers to the development of the next generation of artists.
As part of the 2007 Banff Summer Arts Festival, Anton Kuerti will perform as guest soloist for the Banff Festival Orchestra concert August 18 in The Banff Centre’s Eric Harvie Theatre. Conducted by Alain Trudel, Kuerti’s performance will include Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
