Claude Coppens
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Claude Coppens (b. December 23, 1936, Schaarbeek, near Brussels) is a Belgian pianist and composer.
Coppens studied at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels with Marcel Maas and in Paris with Marguerite Long. He held amicable relations with several well known twentieth century composers including John Cage and Frank Zappa.
As an interpreter he is known for his faithfulness to the original intentions of the composer. John Cage's music for prepared piano was executed by him after several exchanges with the composer about the exact way to do the "preparation." He extensively studied Erik Satie's music so that when he played the integral piano works of Satie in two consecutive sessions in 1995 (...only abbreviating the Vexations), he revealed several more piano pieces by this composer, not known to the public until that day. He premiered the first piano concerto by Heitor Villa-Lobos, the latter conducting.
