Kenneth Gilbert

Kenneth Gilbert ( born December 16, 1931 in Montreal ) is a Canadian harpsichordist.

Gilbert studied at the Conservatory in Montreal and Paris with Gaston Litaize, Ruggiero Gerling, and Nadia Boulanger. For four years he worked at the Italian Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. In 1957, he was appointed in Montreal professor of harpsichord. In 1969 he taught at Laval University in Quebec, from 1971, at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp. 1973 Gilbert successor of Gustav Leonhardt at the Summer Academy of Haarlem ( NL). From 1981 he taught at the Stuttgart Academy of Music. He directs the early music department at the Strasbourg Conservatory.

Since 1989, Kenneth Gilbert university professor of harpsichord at the Salzburg Mozarteum. He is also head of harpsichord seminar at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and the Fondazione Cini in Venice. He is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London.

Gilbert mainly deals with historical performance practice, and is noted as an interpreter of French composers. Gilbert performs on period instruments. The 300th birthday of François Couperin played a Gilbert whose complete works and edited a corresponding revision of the composer (1969).

Awards (selection)

  • Honorary Doctorate of Music from McGill University in Montreal
  • Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music ( London)
  • Member of the Royal Society of Canada
  • Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art First Class (1999)
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