World-renowned harpsichordist gives master class at the Liszt Academy

26 April 2022

Bernhard Klapprott, professor at the University of Music Franz Liszt, Weimar, spends three days with students at our university, and talks about them as outstanding talents.

“This is my third time at the Liszt Academy, it’s a pleasure to be and teach here, I meet very open-minded and well-prepared students every time,” says Bernhard Klapprott. The professor gave a lecture on the playing style of Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach’s era, various stylistic issues, and then worked individually with students and the works they were practising during their classes.

He has also mentioned that he knows and worked with some excellent colleagues of the Liszt Academy, among them Prof. Borbala Dobozy, head of the harpsichord subdepartment, in international juries and at his own institution. He believes that such exchanges and collaborations are excellent opportunities for gaining experience, cooperating and development, therefore their importance cannot be stressed enough.

 

photo: Liszt Academy

 

Bernhard Klapprott graduated in harpsichord, organ and church music in Cologne and Amsterdam. An internationally renowned soloist, continuo player and conductor, he recorded all the harpsichord works of Thomas Tomkins, the sonatas of Georg Anton Benda and the organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach. His recordings have been recognised by prestigious awards, including the Echo Klassik Prize. In 1999, together with Christoph Dittmar, he founded the ensemble Cantus Thuringia & Capella, with which he gave numerous concerts and made several recordings, mainly emblematic pieces of 16th–18th century German music, and collaborated in the creation of stage performances combined with historical theatre. In a similar professional context, he launched the project “Musical Heritage of Thuringia”, a collection and publication of mostly unknown vocal and instrumental music from Thuringia.

He taught at the University of Dortmund, the Detmold, Herford and Bremen Conservatories of Music, as well as numerous international masterclasses. Since 1994 Bernhard Klapprott has been professor for harpsichord and early keyboard instruments at the Department of Early Music at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar.