Happy birthday, Alfred Brendel!
Published January 13, 2021 Authored by Frank Villella
Wishing a very happy (and slightly belated) birthday to legendary Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel, who celebrated his ninetieth on January 5, 2021! A regular and favorite performer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for nearly forty years, he has appeared with the ensemble in Orchestra Hall, at the Ravinia Festival, and in Carnegie Hall.
On Sunday, March 9, 2008, Brendel "sat down at the Steinway to play his final Chicago concert. At the end of the year, he will retire from the concert stage, closing the book on a distinguished sixty-year career," wrote John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune. "And what a concert it was. I've attended many of the nearly three dozen recitals the pianist has given in the city since his downtown debut . . . and can honestly say I've never heard him play better."
A complete list of his performances is below.
TOP: Alfred Brendel at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in Scotland in August 2003 | Shutterstock photo
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