Anton Nel
Anton Nel, this season hailed as “an uncommonly elegant pianist” by the New York Times, has enjoyed a remarkable and versatile career that has taken him around the globe since his auspicious debut at the age of 12 with Beethoven’s C Major Concerto after only two years of study.
He was featured as soloist at Mainly Mozart’s first Festival in 1989, and has returned frequently both as soloist and chamber music collaborator.
Winner of the First Prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition, he appears regularly as recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist with distinguished orchestras in the United States and abroad. Recent and upcoming highlights in the U.S. include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco and Detroit symphonies and the Boston Pops; most noteworthy is his giving the American premiere of the newly discovered Third Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn in November of 1997.
His coast-to-coast recital appearances have included numerous performances on the Great Performers at Lincoln Center series in New York, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., as well as the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena. A favorite at summer festivals he has performed with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival, at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, as well as the Aspen Music Festival (where he is on the artist-faculty), among many others.
He regularly collaborates with some of the world’s foremost artists including members of the Juilliard and Cleveland Quartets, and cellist Zara Nelsova. With violinist Sarah Chang, he recently completed a highly successful tour of Japan as well as appearing at a special benefit concert for Live Music Now in London, hosted by HRH the Prince of Wales.
He has also performed throughout Canada, Europe, Mexico, and South America, and toured South Africa 14 times. He has 13 CDs to his credit, the most recent being a solo recital disc for EMI.
Also a gifted and dedicated teacher has served on the faculties of the Eastman School of Music, the University of Michigan (where he was chairman of the piano department) and has taught master classes worldwide. In Fall 2000, Dr. Nel returns to the University of Texas at Austin, after a 12-year absence, as the Priscilla Pond Flawn Regents Professor (piano and chamber music).
The South African-born Dr. Nel is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and the University of Cincinnati. He was the recipient of many awards from both institutions; most recently the University of Cincinnati honored him with a Distinguished Alumnus Award. His teachers include Adolph Hallis, Bela Siki, and Frank Weinstock.
Mr. Nel's appearance is made possible by Haffner Hosts Norman Blachford and Peter Cooper.
