Angela Hewitt

Angela Hewitt, OC OBE (born July 26, 1958) is a British/Canadian classical pianist. She is best known for her Bach interpretations.

Career

Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt was born in Ottawa, daughter of the Yorkshire-born Godfrey Hewitt (thus she has dual nationality) who was choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa.[1][2] She began piano studies at the age of three with her mother. She also studied violin with Walter Prystawski, recorder with Wolfgang Grunsky, and ballet with Nesta Toumine in Ottawa. Her first full-length recital was at the age of nine, in The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where she studied from 1964 to 1973 with Earle Moss and Myrtle Guerrero. She then went on to be the student of French pianist Jean-Paul Sevilla at the University of Ottawa.

Angela Hewitt has performed around the world in recital and as soloist with orchestra. She is most well known for her cycle of Bach recordings which she began in 1994 and finished in 2005—covering all the major keyboard works of J.S. Bach. Her recording of Bach's Art of Fugue was released on 17 October 2014.[3] Her discography also includes works by Couperin, Rameau, Messiaen, Chabrier, Ravel, Schumann, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy and Fauré. She has recorded two discs of Mozart concertos with the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, and a third featuring Ottawa's National Arts Centre Orchestra, conducted by Hannu Lintu, will appear in 2014. With the DSO Berlin and Lintu, she also recorded the Schumann Piano Concerto.She also has earned a scholarship at the age of five.

Angela Hewitt's entire 2007–2008 season was devoted to complete performances of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier in major cities all over the world. Her Hyperion DVD on Bach Performance on the Piano was released to coincide with the tour.

In July 2005, Angela Hewitt launched the Trasimeno Music Festival in Umbria near Perugia of which she is Artistic Director.

In recent years, she records using her own piano, a Fazioli F308 grand.

Personal life

After living in Paris from 1978 to 1985, Hewitt moved to London, which has been her principal residence ever since. She also has homes in Ottawa and Umbria, Italy.

Recognition

In 2000, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC).[4] In 2002, Hewitt was awarded the National Arts Centre Award, a companion award to the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards, given to an artist or group who has had an exceptional performance year.[5] Hewitt was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on June 17, 2006 and Gramophone Artist of the Year in 2006. She received the MIDEM Classical Award for Instrumentalist of the Year in 2010, and was awarded the first ever BBC Radio 3 Listener’s Award (Royal Philharmonic Society Awards) in 2003. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has honorary degrees from the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, Queen's University (Kingston), the Open University (London), Mount Saint Vincent University (Halifax), the University of Saskatchewan and Carleton University (Ottawa).[6]

References

  1. ↑ Betty Nygaard King, Jean Southworth. "Hewitt, Godfrey". Encyclopedia of Canadian Music. Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  2. ↑ Angela Hewitt explained her dual nationality on the CBC Radio Two program, This Is My Music which aired on February 23, 2013.
  3. ↑ "www.angelahewitt.com". Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "Order of Canada citation for Angela Hewitt". Archived from the original on 15 May 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  5. ↑ "Angela Hewitt". Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Angela Hewitt Receives Honorary Degree from Carleton University". Carleton University. Retrieved 29 July 2014.

External links