Rena Kyriakou

Friday, August 26, 13:30–14:00 • Aula Auditorium, 203

Christina Kl. GIANNELOU (piano)

Rena Kyriakou (1917–1994) was a world-renowned child prodigy, internationally acclaimed pianist, composer, and pedagogue. Albert Roussel, Gabriel Pierné, Jean Déré, Vincent d’Indy, Franz Schrecker, Georg Szell, and Max von Shillings agreed that Kyriakou was a performing and composing genius. She studied theory and harmony in Vienna with Richard Stöhr, Paul Weingarten, as well as piano with Hilda Müller-Pernitza, Angelos Kessissoglu, and Paul Wittgenstein. She studied piano with Isidor Philipp and composition with Henri Büsser at the Paris Conservatory. She graduated with Premier Prix de Piano and was proposed for the Prix de Rome of 1933.
She left an enormous number of recordings with American Vox, where she promoted composers like Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Emmanuel Chabrier, Isaac Albéniz (complete works), Antonio Soler, John Field, Jan Dusík, Enrique Granados, Fryderyk Chopin, Gabriel Fauré, and Camille Saint-Saëns. Her recordings remain unsurpassed to this day.

Program

• Tango, A.K.Σ.P.K. 28 (1928)
• Kloster, A.K.Σ.P.K.35/op.1(1928)
• Les cloches, A.K.Σ.P.K. 53 / op. 9 (1935)
• Burlesque no. 2, A.K.Σ.P.K. 54 / op. 9 (1935)
• Perpetuum Mobile, A.K.Σ.P.K. 70 / op. 15 (1940)