About this Artist
Leading one of the most distinguished careers of any pianist, CLAUDE FRANK has repeatedly appeared with the world’s foremost orchestras, at major festivals and at its most prestigious universities since his debut with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1959. He is an internationally acclaimed interpreter of the piano literature of Beethoven; the American Record Guide chose the 1990 re-release of his CD recording on the Music and Arts label of the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas above 22 other renditions as “the one that reaches an exceptionally high level ... and maintains that level with quite amazing consistency.”
During recent seasons, Claude Frank has given joint recitals with his daughter, violinist Pamela Frank, in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Fairfax, Toronto, and New Orleans as well as numerous performances abroad. He also appeared with his wife, pianist Lilian Kallir, at Town Hall in New York City, and has performed in recitals at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. He has also appeared with the Guarneri String Quartet in Pittsburgh, Toledo, and Chicago.
Claude Frank has been a repeated soloist with the great orchestras of five continents, including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. He has also been heard in performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, among others.
In chamber music, he has appeared with such eminent groups as the Juilliard, Cleveland, Emerson, and Tokyo Quartets and the London Mozart Players, as well as with Alexander Schneider’s chamber ensembles. A frequent performer in New York City’s Mostly Mozart Festival during its formative years and a festival participant in virtually every season thereafter, Claude Frank appeared in its 25th-anniversary celebration at Lincoln Center.
A renowned teacher as well as performer, Frank is on the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia; he is a professor at the Yale School of Music and is an artist in residence at Kansas City. A milestone in his career was RCA’s release of his recordings of the 32 Beethoven Sonatas and his worldwide performances of the cycle. Other recordings include the critically acclaimed direct-to-disc recording of the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, with George Cleve and the Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra for Sonic Arts and Sine Qua Non’s recording of Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio with violinist Emmanuel Borok and cellist Leslie Parnas. Frank’s performance of the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, with the New England Conservatory Orchestra and Leon Fleisher conducting is on the Audiofon label. He recently recorded the complete cycle of Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonatas with daughter Pamela, for MusicMasters.
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