Fernando Valenti

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Fernando Valenti (born December 4, 1926 in New York City , † September 6, 1990 in Red Bank / New Jersey ) was an American harpsichordist.

Life

Valenti studied piano with José Iturbi and then harpsichord with Ralph Kirkpatrick at Yale University . From 1951 he was professor of harpsichord at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. He also taught a. a. at the Cleveland Institute and the California Institute of the Arts .

Valenti became famous for his interpretation of the virtuoso harpsichord sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti . In 1978 he played 100 of these sonatas on five consecutive evenings at Carnegie Hall . His repertoire also included compositions by Georg Friedrich Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach as well as by modern composers such as Elliott Carter , Arnold Schoenberg and George Gershwin .

Valenti performed in concerts under conductors such as Bruno Walter , Serge Koussevitsky , Fritz Reiner and Pablo Casals . On record he played a. a. 330 sonatas by Scarlatti as well as Bach's Goldberg Variations and his Brandenburg Concerts (with Leopold Stokowski ). He has also published two books: The Harpsichord: A Dialogue for Beginners (1982) and A Performer's Guide to the Keyboard Partitas of JS Bach (1990).

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personal data
SURNAME Valenti, Fernando
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American harpsichordist
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 1990
Place of death Red Bank (New Jersey)