Sebastian Benda
Jean Sebastian Benda (born April 8, 1926 in Thonon-les-Bains , † February 20, 2003 in Lugano ) was a Swiss pianist , composer and music teacher .
Live and act
Sebastian Benda grew up in French-speaking Switzerland as the son of the violinist Jean Benda and the pianist Dora Benda-Hamann and comes from a family of musicians who have been active since the 19th century. Like his grandmother Johanna Benda (* 1838), who u. a. played piano four hands with Clara Schumann , Jean Sebastian, as a child prodigy at the piano, attracted the attention of important musicians of his time. These included Arthur Honegger , Frank Martin , Edwin Fischer and Hermann Scherchen .
Benda became a pupil of Edwin Fischer, who invited him as a soloist in his piano concertos by Bach and Mozart . In London he received the "Bach Medal" of the "Harriet Cohen Foundation" together with Jörg Demus and Daniel Barenboim .
As an interpreter, he dedicated himself to the work of his early classical namesakes Franz Benda and Georg Benda as well as the chamber music of Luigi Boccherini , Robert Schumann , Johannes Brahms and Bohuslav Martinů in various recordings .
As early as the fifties he appeared at various festivals for new music, including world premieres of music from the 20th century. a. with piano works by Hermann Heiss . So he was invited by Frank Martin to record his ballad for piano and orchestra - under the direction of the composer - for the first time on record. Through his thirty-year stay in Brazil , he was also well acquainted with the piano music there and always advocated it.
As a music teacher, Sebastian Benda u. a. in São Paulo and at the Kunstuniversität Graz , where he initially took on a piano professorship and was elected rector in 1988 . In addition, he gave numerous master classes at the Royal Academy of Music in London, at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris, at the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels, in Copenhagen, Jerusalem, Tokyo and Honolulu.
He was a sought-after member of international piano competitions such as the “Vienna Beethoven Competition”, the ARD Competition in Munich, the “Geneva Piano Competition” or the “Georges Enescu Competition” in Bucharest .
As a piano professor and rector of the “Graz University of Music and Performing Arts”, he also founded the Austrian section of the “European Piano Teachers Association” and the international competition “Schubert and Modern Music”. Several of his students have won major international awards, are on concert platforms and today teach at universities and conservatories themselves .
The children from his marriage to the pianist Luzia Dias Benda - such as the music teacher Angela Benda , the cellist and conductor Christian Benda , the clarinetist Francois Benda , the violinist Nancy Benda or the pianist Denise Benda - lead the family tradition as internationally renowned interpreters and teachers her father away.
See also
Web links
- Works by and about Sebastian Benda in the catalog of the German National Library
- Sebastian Benda at a master class by Edwin Fischer in Lucerne
- Curriculum vitae on the Genuin company website
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Benda, Sebastian |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Benda, Jean Sebastian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss pianist, composer and music teacher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 8, 1926 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lugano |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 20, 2003 |
| Place of death | Thonon-les-Bains |