Ursula Oppens
Biography
downloadWidely admired for her original and perceptive readings of new music and the standard repertoire, Ursula Oppens has premiered and/or commissioned works by John Adams, Luciano Berio, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Anthony Davis, Julius Hemphill, John Harbison, Laura Kaminsky, György Ligeti,
Witold Lutosławski, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Charles Wuorinen, and many more.
With five Grammy nominations to her credit, Ms. Oppens established her reputation early on with a classic recording of Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated. She has released Piano Songs, music by Meredith Monk, with pianist Bruce Brubaker; Winging It: Piano Music of John Corigliano; Oppens Plays Carter (complete Carter piano works); Piano Music of Our Time; Keys to the City, (complete Picker piano music); and, with pianist Jerome Lowenthal, Visions de l’Amen by Messiaen and Debussy’s En blanc et noir.
As guest soloist, Ms. Oppens has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, and London Philharmonic Orchestras, among others, and has collaborated with the Arditti, Cassatt, Juilliard, and Pacifica quartets.
In addition to The People United Will Never be Defeated and Friendship, Mr. Rzewski wrote the following pieces for Ms. Oppens: Four Pieces for Piano, Mayn Yingele, the two-piano version of The Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues, Moonrise with Memories, and A Machine.
Ms. Oppens teaches at Mannes College, and is a Distinguished Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. In 2019, Ms. Oppens was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The New England Conservatory.
Heralded as “queen of contemporary music” by Zachary Woolfe on the New York Times, Ursula Oppens, a legend among American pianists, is widely admired particularly for her original and perceptive readings of new music, but also for her knowing interpretations of the standard repertoire. No other artist alive today has commissioned and premiered more new works for the piano that have entered the permanent repertoire.
“Titan of the contemporary keyboard, Ursula Oppens is a rarity among artists living today,” wrote Adam Sherkin in The Whole Note, September 21, 2021. “She is the stalwart bearer of a mid-century musical torch that apparently burns eternal. How fortunate we are to have such musicians as Oppens still making music with fortitude, passion and tireless faith.”
A prolific and critically acclaimed recording artist with five Grammy nominations to her credit, Ms. Oppens is renowned for her cult classic The People United Will Never Be Defeated by the late iconoclastic composer Frederic Rzewski. That 1979 release, for the Vanguard label, marked her first Grammy nomination. In 2016 she put out a new recording of The People United Will Never Be Defeated, also nominated for a Grammy, and earlier Grammy nominations were for Winging It: Piano Music of John Corigliano; Oppens Plays Carter; a recording of the complete piano works of Elliott Carter for Cedille Records (also named a “Best of the Year” selection by The New York Times long-time music critic Allan Kozinn); and Piano Music of Our Time featuring compositions by John Adams, Elliott Carter, Julius Hemphill, and Conlon Nancarrow for the Music and Arts label. Ms. Oppens recently added to her extensive discography by releasing Fantasy: Oppens plays Kaminsky in 2021 for the Cedille label. She also recorded Piano Songs, a collaboration with Meredith Monk, as well as a two-piano CD for Cedille Records devoted to Visions de l’Amen of Oliver Messiaen and Debussy’s En blanc et noir performed with pianist Jerome Lowenthal.
During the pandemic, Ms. Oppens has concertized both live and online. In May 2021 she was chosen to re-open the New York City Bargemusic series in person. Performing works by Chopin, Carter, and a newly composed piece entitled Friendship, by Frederic Rzewski, prompted Harry Rolnick of concertonet to review in glowing terms:
[in] her extraordinary one-hour concert last night…her fingers danced over the difficulties of
Carter’s Caténaires with the same effortless elegance as she played five Chopin Nocturnes. And she gives her music the oomph, the bravado, the vivacity which they deserve…Her virtuosity goes hand in
hand–literally–with her understanding. And yes, her attitude, her beatific smile after each work, her nuances that we in the audience are the important visitors, make a concert a thing of joy. But most important for this listener is that she can take the most supposedly recondite algorithmic composition and make it absolutely logical. Not logical philosophically or structurally, but with a logic of understanding. As possibly the world’s most accomplished extant of Frederic Rzewski, I am certain her performance of Rzewski’s Friendship was authoritative…Ms. Oppens creates the universe of great artists without judgments, only the obligation to offer her frequently ineffable artistry.
–May 22, 2021
In early 2019, Ms. Oppens performed a recital at Merkin Concert Hall for a celebration of her 75th birthday, inaugurating the Kaufman Music Center’s newest series, Only at Merkin with Terrance McKnight. Her program showcased all works written for her by Elliott Carter and John Corigliano, and gave the world premiere of a piano quintet by Laura Kaminsky—commissioned by the pianist for the occasion with production support from the Newburgh Institute for The Arts & Ideas—alongside the Cassatt String Quartet and Tobias Picker’s Ursula for solo piano, a birthday present for his dear friend and collaborator.
Of Ms. Oppens’ Merkin Hall concert, David Wright of New York Classical Review wrote on February 3, 2019:
Merkin Concert Hall was packed Saturday night…for a celebration of the pianist’s 75th birthday on its exact date. Here one was especially aware of the quality of Oppens’ tone—full and projected even in the softest pianissimo, and capable of producing tremendous impact in forte chords without sounding pinched or banged. Her pedaling was unusually subtle for new-music interpretation, managing resonances and overlapping tones like an expert Chopin player.
Over the years, Ms. Oppens has premiered works by such leading composers as John Adams, Luciano Berio, William Bolcom, Anthony Braxton, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Anthony Davis, John Harbison, Julius Hemphill, David Hertzberg, Laura Kaminsky, Tania Leon, György Ligeti, Erik Lundborg, Witold Lutoslawski, Harold Meltzer, Meredith Monk, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Bernard Rands, Frederic Rzewski, Allen Shawn, Alvin Singleton, Joan Tower, Lois V Vierk, Amy Williams, Christian Wolff, Amnon Wolman, and Charles Wuorinen.
As an orchestral guest soloist, Ms. Oppens has performed with virtually all of the world’s major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), and the orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Milwaukee. Abroad, she has appeared with such ensembles as the Berlin Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Deutsche Symphonie, the Scottish BBC, and the London Philharmonic Orchestras. Ms. Oppens is also an avid chamber musician and has performed with the Arditti, Cassatt, JACK, Juilliard, and Pacifica quartets, among other chamber ensembles.
Ursula Oppens is a Distinguished Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City; she also joined the faculty of Mannes College, The New School, in fall 2017. In 2019, Ms. Oppens was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The New England Conservatory. From 1994 through the end of the 2007-08 academic year she served as John Evans Distinguished Professor of Music at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. In addition, Ms. Oppens has served as a juror for many international competitions, such as the Bachauer, Busoni, Concert Artists Guild, Young Concert Artists, Young Pianists Foundation (Amsterdam), and Cincinnati Piano World Competition. Ms. Oppens lives in New York City.
