Bobby Mitchell not only knows how to make exciting and unique music using ornamentation, sound, and tempo, but you can hear that he never just plays what is written.
NRC Handelsblad (Amsterdam)
Bobby Mitchell is an American pianist whose interests are embedded in the here and now of music as performance art, as well as the more standard classical repertory of centuries past. A frequent performer of new and rarely heard works, his interests lie mainly with the contemporary music canon and combining these works with the standard repertoire in an illuminating fashion. An instrumentalist who is not afraid to cross the traditional boundaries of programming and performance practice, he is active as a solo and collaborative concert pianist on modern and historical instruments and is also experienced in the fields of improvisation, composition, and conducting.
He has performed extensively in the Americas, across Europe, Asia, South Africa, and the Middle East, and recent highlights include concerto performances with Philippe Herreweghe and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Venues include the Menuhin Festival (Gstaad, Switzerland), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona), and Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington D.C.). He has otherwise performed as concerto soloist with orchestras and new-music ensembles in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Significant solo activities include numerous performances of Frederic Rzewski’s epic 36 Variations on The People United Will Never Be Defeated! and frequent work with composers such as Frederic Rzewski, Steve Reich, and Louis Andriessen as well as regular work with peer composers of his own generation. Rzewski recently wrote a solo piano work called Winter Nights for Bobby, who also gave the USA premiere of Rzewski’s Songs of Insurrection and was involved in the Dutch radio’s initiative to record Rzewski’s entire novel-for-piano The Road.
Bobby records for the Alpha / Outhere music label (Haydn on an original pianoforte), VDE-Gallo (Schumann live in San Francisco), and New Focus Records (Martin Scherzinger's solo piano works). His YouTube channel has become an Internet phenomenon for classical and improvised piano music, with more than half-a-million views. Primary teachers include Nelita True, David Kuyken, Robert Hill, Rudolf Lutz, Stephen Perry, and Bart van Oort.
He is artistic director of the piano festival En Blanc et Noir, Festival International de Piano Robert Turnbull, a five-day celebration of live piano music that takes place every July in Lagrasse, France.
NRC Handelsblad (Amsterdam)
Bobby Mitchell is an American pianist whose interests are embedded in the here and now of music as performance art, as well as the more standard classical repertory of centuries past. A frequent performer of new and rarely heard works, his interests lie mainly with the contemporary music canon and combining these works with the standard repertoire in an illuminating fashion. An instrumentalist who is not afraid to cross the traditional boundaries of programming and performance practice, he is active as a solo and collaborative concert pianist on modern and historical instruments and is also experienced in the fields of improvisation, composition, and conducting.
He has performed extensively in the Americas, across Europe, Asia, South Africa, and the Middle East, and recent highlights include concerto performances with Philippe Herreweghe and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Venues include the Menuhin Festival (Gstaad, Switzerland), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona), and Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington D.C.). He has otherwise performed as concerto soloist with orchestras and new-music ensembles in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Significant solo activities include numerous performances of Frederic Rzewski’s epic 36 Variations on The People United Will Never Be Defeated! and frequent work with composers such as Frederic Rzewski, Steve Reich, and Louis Andriessen as well as regular work with peer composers of his own generation. Rzewski recently wrote a solo piano work called Winter Nights for Bobby, who also gave the USA premiere of Rzewski’s Songs of Insurrection and was involved in the Dutch radio’s initiative to record Rzewski’s entire novel-for-piano The Road.
Bobby records for the Alpha / Outhere music label (Haydn on an original pianoforte), VDE-Gallo (Schumann live in San Francisco), and New Focus Records (Martin Scherzinger's solo piano works). His YouTube channel has become an Internet phenomenon for classical and improvised piano music, with more than half-a-million views. Primary teachers include Nelita True, David Kuyken, Robert Hill, Rudolf Lutz, Stephen Perry, and Bart van Oort.
He is artistic director of the piano festival En Blanc et Noir, Festival International de Piano Robert Turnbull, a five-day celebration of live piano music that takes place every July in Lagrasse, France.
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| cur_bobby_mitchell__dt_ausführlich.2020.docx |
| cur_bobby_mitchell__dt_kurz.2020.docx |
| cur_bobby_mitchell__fran..docx |
| cur_bobby_mitchell__ital..docx |
| bobby_mitchell_biografie_nederlands.docx |
Kasper Jansen, NRC Handelsblad (Amsterdam)
Haydn, himself a great fan of the humorous and unexpected, would certainly have laughed out loud upon first laying eyes on this recording. The amusing Portrait of an Extraordinary Musical Dog by the British painter Philip Reinagle, a contemporary of Haydn, can be seen on the CD cover of this recording of pianoforte sonatas and variations. Sitting at the piano, the dog looks like the ancestor to Rowlf from the Muppet Show.
Haydn is played with a lot of character in these performances. Bobby Mitchell not only knows how to make exciting and unique music using ornamentation, sound, and tempo, but you can hear that he never just plays what is written.
Mitchell uses the score but takes his own approach to the music, with gratitude to the brilliant composer. Mitchell is a multi-faceted and temperamental talent: he improvises (here as well, between each piece), he plays modern music, and he conducts. And – as you can hear – he loves Haydn quite a lot.
Haydn zelf, dol op het onverwachtse en humoristische, zou er hard om hebben gelachen. Op de cd met zijn fortepiano-sonates staat het schilderij Portrait of an Extraordinary Musical Dog van de Britse dierenschilder Philip Reinagle, nog uit de Haydntijd. Aan de piano lijkt hij de voorvader van de roerende pianohond Rowlf uit de Muppet Show.
Haydn krijgt in deze uitvoeringen veel reliëf. Niet alleen weet fortepianist Bobby Mitchell telkens in voorslagen, klank en tempo iets spannends en tegendraads te doen, maar ook hoor je dat hij nooit zomaar speelt wat er staat.
Mitchell gebruikt de noten, maar gaat daarmee zijn eigen gang met dank aan de geniale componist. Mitchell, deels in Nederland opgeleid, is een veelzijdig en temperamentvol talent. Hij improviseert (ook hier, tussen de nummers door), hij speelt moderne muziek en hij dirigeert. En hij houdt - hoorbaar -heel erg van Haydn.
Haydn, selbst ein Anhänger des humoristischen und unerwarteten hätte vermutlich laut gelacht bei der ersten Betrachtung dieser Aufnahme. Das amüsante Portrait eines außergewöhnlich musikalischen Hundes des Malers Philip Reinagle, ein Zeitgenosse Haydn's ziert das Cover der verschiedenen Klaviersonaten und Variationen. Der Hund am Klavier erinnert dabei in seinem Aussehen an einen Vorfahren des rührenden Klavierhunds Rowlf's aus der Muppet Show.
Die Musik Haydns bekommt in dieser Ausführung sehr viel Abwechslung verliehen. Bobby Mitchell macht die Musik durch Ausschmückung, einen eigenen Klang und dem bewussten Umgang mit dem Tempo zu einem aufregenden und einmaligen Ergebnis, bei dem man hört, dass er nicht nur spielt was geschrieben steht.
Mitchell benutzt die Partitur, erweitert sie aber gleichzeitig um seinen eigenen Zugang zur Musik, dem die Dankbarkeit gegenüber des brillianten Komponisten deutlich anzuhören ist. Mitchell ist ein facettenreiches und temperamentvolles Talent, das immer wieder improvisiert (hier auch zwischen den Stücken) und ebenso moderne Musik spielt und dazu noch dirigiert. Vor allem wird jedoch deutlich, das kann man hören, welch große Anerkennung er Haydn entgegen bringt.
Haydn, himself a great fan of the humorous and unexpected, would certainly have laughed out loud upon first laying eyes on this recording. The amusing Portrait of an Extraordinary Musical Dog by the British painter Philip Reinagle, a contemporary of Haydn, can be seen on the CD cover of this recording of pianoforte sonatas and variations. Sitting at the piano, the dog looks like the ancestor to Rowlf from the Muppet Show.
Haydn is played with a lot of character in these performances. Bobby Mitchell not only knows how to make exciting and unique music using ornamentation, sound, and tempo, but you can hear that he never just plays what is written.
Mitchell uses the score but takes his own approach to the music, with gratitude to the brilliant composer. Mitchell is a multi-faceted and temperamental talent: he improvises (here as well, between each piece), he plays modern music, and he conducts. And – as you can hear – he loves Haydn quite a lot.
Haydn zelf, dol op het onverwachtse en humoristische, zou er hard om hebben gelachen. Op de cd met zijn fortepiano-sonates staat het schilderij Portrait of an Extraordinary Musical Dog van de Britse dierenschilder Philip Reinagle, nog uit de Haydntijd. Aan de piano lijkt hij de voorvader van de roerende pianohond Rowlf uit de Muppet Show.
Haydn krijgt in deze uitvoeringen veel reliëf. Niet alleen weet fortepianist Bobby Mitchell telkens in voorslagen, klank en tempo iets spannends en tegendraads te doen, maar ook hoor je dat hij nooit zomaar speelt wat er staat.
Mitchell gebruikt de noten, maar gaat daarmee zijn eigen gang met dank aan de geniale componist. Mitchell, deels in Nederland opgeleid, is een veelzijdig en temperamentvol talent. Hij improviseert (ook hier, tussen de nummers door), hij speelt moderne muziek en hij dirigeert. En hij houdt - hoorbaar -heel erg van Haydn.
Haydn, selbst ein Anhänger des humoristischen und unerwarteten hätte vermutlich laut gelacht bei der ersten Betrachtung dieser Aufnahme. Das amüsante Portrait eines außergewöhnlich musikalischen Hundes des Malers Philip Reinagle, ein Zeitgenosse Haydn's ziert das Cover der verschiedenen Klaviersonaten und Variationen. Der Hund am Klavier erinnert dabei in seinem Aussehen an einen Vorfahren des rührenden Klavierhunds Rowlf's aus der Muppet Show.
Die Musik Haydns bekommt in dieser Ausführung sehr viel Abwechslung verliehen. Bobby Mitchell macht die Musik durch Ausschmückung, einen eigenen Klang und dem bewussten Umgang mit dem Tempo zu einem aufregenden und einmaligen Ergebnis, bei dem man hört, dass er nicht nur spielt was geschrieben steht.
Mitchell benutzt die Partitur, erweitert sie aber gleichzeitig um seinen eigenen Zugang zur Musik, dem die Dankbarkeit gegenüber des brillianten Komponisten deutlich anzuhören ist. Mitchell ist ein facettenreiches und temperamentvolles Talent, das immer wieder improvisiert (hier auch zwischen den Stücken) und ebenso moderne Musik spielt und dazu noch dirigiert. Vor allem wird jedoch deutlich, das kann man hören, welch große Anerkennung er Haydn entgegen bringt.
