This is a new column devoted to board members' biographies so
that NEPTA can get to know us a little better.  Please join me in
welcoming Robert Finley!

Robert Finley was born in Hull, England, and started to play the
piano at the age of seven. At the age of ten he won a scholarship to Trinity College of Music in London to study piano and musicianship.

In 1976 he was awarded the ARCM Diploma with Honours from the Royal College of Music. He studied electronic engineering at the University of Sussex and gained a BSc Honours degree.

He studied the piano with several concert pianists including Norma Fisher, Albert Ferber (protege of Sergey Rachmaninoff), Michael Lewin, Gabriel Chodos, and played in the masterclasses of Louis Kentner, Jorge Bolet, Vlado Perlemuter, Peter Donohoe, Yoheved Kaplinsky and Bernard Roberts.

He has given recitals in the UK, USA, Argentina, Israel, France, Germany and Poland, and played concertos by Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Schumann with symphony orchestras in the UK.

An expert in MIDI sequencing, his recordings of classical music are well known on the internet. These can be played on electric pianos, synthesizers and computer sound cards. He recorded three CD albums of works by Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and other composers for the QRS Corporation's Pianomation player piano system, and these are being sold all over the world. Some of his MIDI recordings have been used in electronic games and for the sound tracks of movies.

Robert Finley won prizes at international piano competitions for amateurs in France, Berlin, Fort Worth, New York, Colorado Springs, and reached the finals and semifinals in many of them. He gained second place at the 2004 and 2010 WIPAC competitions in  Washington DC. In 2009 he was a finalist in the First Chopin  International Piano Amateur Competition in Warsaw, Poland. In June 2010 he was a winner of the PianoTexas concerto competition and played the first movement of Rachmaninoff's 3rd piano concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

He is the President and Founder of the Boston Piano Amateurs Association that organizes a piano competition for outstanding adult amateur pianists every two years, as well as recitals, masterclasses, and soirees (see www.bostonpianoamateurs.org). The BPAA will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2011 with the Sixth Boston International Piano Competition.

Robert Finley emigrated to the USA in 1980 and worked as an electronics engineeer for General Dynamics, formerly GTE. He retired from General Dynamics in 2006 and now spends most of his time practicing the piano, giving concerts, and teaching the piano. He teaches students of all levels and ages at his home in Northborough. He also enjoys playing for weddings and giving lectures and talks about music. He is presently working on a book about piano competitions. His webpage is www.robertfinleypianist.com.

Lydia Reed-Guertin, President, started the meeting with a reading of Lindsey Robb's Treasurer's report.  NEPTA's finances are in good order with assets totaling $133,605, which includes a generous bequeathal of $33,334 from the estate of Joseph Beaudoin, a long time member of NEPTA.  Lydia reminded the membership that next month's meeting with Christopher O'Reilly will be held at the First Parish of Watertown. 

In celebration of NEPTA's 60^th anniversary, Lydia has invited former NEPTA presidents to speak about their experiences with NEPTA.  Sylvia Chambless, President from 1995-1997, Honorary member and distinguished pianist, spoke about her ongoing relationship with NEPTA.  She was invited to join the organization by Jean Alderman, and when Sylvia missed a monthly meeting, Jean would call her the next day, asking, "Where were you on Monday?"  She credited many members with helping her build up her studio through referrals and supporting her through many phases of her pianistic career.  Sylvia is very grateful for the opportunities that NEPTA has provided for her and her students and is happy to see the organization continuing to thrive, and to enrich the musical lives of its members, as NEPTA has done for her.

Lydia Reed-Guertin then introduced Jerome Lowenthal, concert-performer, studio-teacher and master-class maestro who presented a talk originally entitled, "Years of Pilgrimage:  Liszt and Lowenthal-an interweaving of autobiography, with commentary of and performance of some Liszt pieces", but was shortened to Liszt and Lowenthal due to space limitations in the Program book.  The Program committee had invited Jerome to share his thoughts about Liszt's Années de Pèlerinage and to speak about his personal journey- and some of his teaching and performing experiences, which Mr Lowenthal did in araconteur style that combined intelligence, and wit.  He displayed his pianistic virtuosity and exceptional expressive abilities by interspersing his talk with performances of The Bells of Geneva, Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, Gondoliera, Canzone and Tarantella.

Mr. Lowenthal related the beginnings of Liszt's illustrious career, which started as a young student of his father's, an amateur cellist and an official in the service of Prince Esterhazy.  Showing promising talent at an early age, the family moved to Vienna under the auspices of several patrons in 1821, when Liszt was ten years old.  There he studied piano with Czerny, who at one point, said that he could not do much more with his student!  Liszt also studied composition with Antonio Salieri, whom we all now know as the composer who did not poison Mozart. 

Two years later, the family moved to Paris, with young Franz presenting concerts along the way, fulfilling his father's dream of being a child prodigy like Mozart.  In Paris he was denied entrance to the Conservatoire by Cherubini who had established a rule of not admitting foreigners, that is, after Cherubini, himself a foreigner, was admitted.  After the age of eleven, Liszt never had another piano lesson.  He studied theory and composition and became a popular performer in the fashionable salons of Paris and a sensation among Parisian society.  He toured throughout England, France, and Switzerland.  His health started to deteriorate from the constant stress of being on the road and performing and at the age of sixteen retired from the concert stage.  After the sudden death of his father, Liszt started teaching in Paris at the age of seventeen. 

By the age of twenty-four, Liszt was well established as a teacher and a future composer.  He fell in love with the Countess Marie d'Agoult, who unfortunately was married.  A year later, pregnant with Liszt's child, she left her husband to live with Liszt in Switzerland.  These were the years that fueled the composing of the first volume, Suisse, of the collection, Années de Pèlerinage.  Liszt was entranced by the natural beauty of Switzerland and this theme featured prominently in his compositions, At the lake of Wallenstadt, Valée d'Obermann.  In Les Cloches de Genève, there are several places where a bell tone is heard ten times, possibly echoing the tenth hour of the night on Christmas Day when their daughter was born.

Jerome Lowenthal began his career as a young student at the Settlement School in Philadelphia.  He studied with various teachers who came and went.  One French teacher taught him to count to six in French.  From another French teacher he learned that Chopin's Db Major Waltz was about a dog chasing his tail.  Another teacher spent most of the lesson complaining about her husband's unfaithfulness to Jerome's mother.  Eventually he landed at the Curtis Institute, studying with Madame Isabella Vengerova.  Jerome's dread of looking forward to a lifetime of working with this awful woman, were thankfully cut to two years, when Olga Samarov took him under her wing.  J.L. loved Madame Samarov.  But she died after only eight lessons with her.  He continued with her assistant for two years in total unhappiness.  Mr. Lowenthal's patron introduced him to William Kapell, who then became his teacher.  This marked the end of the first volume of Mr. Lowenthal's own Années de Pèlerinage, his own personal journey.

Back to Liszt.  Liszt and the Countess visited Paris occasionally.  On one such occasion, Liszt took part in the celebrated pianistic duel with Thalberg, whose fame as a pianist was beginning to rival Liszt's.  The Princess hosting the duel proclaimed Thalberg as "the world's greatest pianist," and Liszt, the victor, "as the only pianist."  The Countess was expecting again so Liszt and company moved to Italy, where he composed the second volume, "Italie."  These pieces were all inspired and related to Italian art - Sonetto del Petrarca, Sposalizio, inspired by Rafael's painting, The Betrothal of the Virgin Mary, ending with the Dante Sonata.  Eventually, they needed income, so Liszt returned to the concert stage in Hungary.  This is where "Liszt-o-mania" started.  Women fell all over him; Liszt was too polite to say no and word of his affairs always got back to Marie, who was stuck in Venice and hated it there.  The relationship began to deteriorate but not before another child was born, this time a son, Daniel.  Upon her return to Paris wrote a book about a character based on Liszt whom she vilified.  Liszt denied any connection to that character.  At this time, Liszt was under the influence of Princess von Wittgenstein.  Because of her wealth, Liszt did not need to perform publicly anymore and so he abandoned the concert stage forever at the age of 35.  This was the end of volume two.

William Kapell made Jerome Lowenthal work.  He studied with him for three years, who inspired him with the dedication and responsibility of being a pianist.  To Jerome's sadness, William Kapell died in a plane crash.  He then auditioned at Juilliard and studied with Edward Steuermann for three years.  Steuermann's approach seemed very bizarre to Jerome - putting all the weight into the fifth finger, keeping the rest of the hand loose, but he was later thankful for this insightful technique and has his students play melodies using only the fifth finger to develop expressiveness through control.  In 1957, Mr. Lowenthal won the second prize in the Busoni competition; Martha Argerich won first.  After studying French on a Fullbright scholarship, Mr. Lowenthal moved to Switzerland to study with Alfred Cortot.  This marked the end of his second volume in his journey to find a teacher.

In his years with the Princess, Liszt suffered the tragedies of his daughter, Blandine, and son, Daniel, dying at young ages.  Cosima had left her first husband and had produced two illegitimate children with Richard Wagner, which caused a rift between Liszt and his daughter.  Adding to his bitterness, the Princess was unable to get a divorce.  Liszt's third volume is all based on religious themes, his devotion to his God having never waivered. 

Jerome Lowenthal's years of pilgrimage are still going on.  He recently recorded the three volumes of Liszt's Années de Pelerinage.