Gerard Willems

Gerardus Maria Willems (born August 19, 1946 in Tilburg , Province of Noord-Brabant ) is a Dutch-Australian pianist.

Life

As a child he was a chorister and piano student at the Brabants Conservatory in Tilburg . When the family of six emigrated to Australia in 1958 , Willems continued teaching from age 12 to 17 in an immigrant camp in Wollongong . He graduated from the Sydney Conservatory of Music with honors. In competitions he won the Queen Victoria Piano Competition Prize . After spending a while with Greville Rothon, a student of Claudio Arrau , in Munich, he went to Amsterdam for a few years and made his debut in London in 1974 , in Munich in 1977 and in Amsterdam in 1978. He returned to Australia in 1981 and was employed as a senior lecturer at the Sydney Conservatory. He has given concerts in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and in late 2000 in Israel. He was the first Australian pianist to record the 5 concerts and 32 sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven . In 1999 and 2000 he was awarded the Australian Record Industry Prize (ARIA) for the sonata recording. The most recent recordings include the Diabelli Variations . As a committed lied accompanist and chamber musician , he founded the Mozartrois Piano Trio , with which he recorded all of the Mozart trios. Willems is an Associate Professor at the Sydney Conservatory. He is committed to promoting young talent and holds master classes in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Willems' maternal grandfather was an organist, composer and piano maker. Perhaps this also explains why Gerard Willems prefers the revolutionary grand pianos from Stuart & Sons (2.9 m, 102 instead of 88 keys).

Web links

• Gerard Willems Queen Elizabeth II Scholar (thetrust.org)
• The Sydney Morning Herald (April 21, 2007)
• Portrait photography
• Stuart & Sons