Anton Kuerti facts for kids

Anton Emil Kuerti is a famous Austrian-born Canadian pianist, music teacher, composer, and conductor. He is known around the world for his amazing piano performances. He was also made an Officer of the Order of Canada, which is a very high honour in Canada.

Early Life and Musical Start

Anton Kuerti was born in Vienna, Austria, on July 21, 1938. When he was a child, his family moved to the United States. He started learning piano in Boston with a teacher named Edward Goldman.

When he was just eleven years old, Anton played the famous Grieg Piano Concerto with the Boston Pops Orchestra. This was a huge achievement for someone so young! He continued his music studies at several top schools, including the Longy School of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Curtis Institute. He learned from great piano teachers like Rudolf Serkin.

In 1957, when he was 19, Anton Kuerti won the Leventritt Award. This was a very important prize for young musicians.

A Career in Music

Anton Kuerti moved to Canada in 1965. He later became a music professor at the University of Toronto, teaching many students. One of his students was the well-known pianist Jane Coop.

Touring and Recordings

Mr. Kuerti has traveled all over the world as a solo pianist. He has performed in 150 different communities across Canada. He has also played with every major orchestra in Canada, and many in the United States and other countries.

He has recorded many albums, which are collections of his music. These include all the piano concertos and sonatas by Beethoven. He also recorded sonatas by Schubert and concertos by Brahms, along with music by many other composers. In 1976, he won a Juno Award for his album The Beethoven Sonatas, Volumes 1, 2 and 3. This is a top music award in Canada. He was nominated for this award seven other times!

Awards and Honours

Anton Kuerti has received many special honours for his contributions to music. He has been given nine honorary degrees from different universities.

In 1980, he started the Festival of the Sound. This is a classical music festival held in Parry Sound, Ontario, where musicians perform beautiful classical pieces.

In 1998, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. This is one of the highest honours a Canadian citizen can receive. In 2008, he received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. This is Canada's highest award for people in the performing arts.

Helping Young Musicians

Mr. Kuerti is also the artistic director emeritus of Mooredale Concerts. He also helps with the Mooredale Youth Orchestras. These are three orchestras in Toronto for children and teenagers who love music. His late wife, Kristine Bogyo, who was a cellist, started these orchestras.

In 2002, Anton Kuerti organized The Czerny Music Festival in Edmonton. This festival celebrated the music of an Austrian composer named Carl Czerny. It showed many different types of music Czerny wrote.

In 2013, while performing a concert, Mr. Kuerti had a stroke. He has been recovering since then.

Views and Beliefs

Anton Kuerti has always cared deeply about peace. In 1966, he protested the Vietnam War by refusing to pay certain taxes. He was also registered as a conscientious objector, meaning he chose not to participate in military service due to his beliefs.

He was also involved in politics for a short time. He ran as a candidate for the New Democratic Party in the 1988 federal election.

Mr. Kuerti, who is Jewish, also spoke out against the conflict in Gaza in 2009.

Other Honours

In 2016, Anton Kuerti became a member of the Order of Ontario. He has also received many other awards throughout his life. These include the National Music League Award in 1956, the Philadelphia Orchestra Youth Prize in 1957, and the Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau in Germany in 2007. He also received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.