Heather O'Donnell
From Sequenza21/NetNewMusic Wiki
Heather O'Donnell's website: http://www.heatherodonnell.info
Heather O'Donnell has been described as "a thoroughly excellent pianist that captivates with a strong charisma, differentiated touch cultivation, and rapturous musicality." (Neues Deutschland). The Village Voice's Kyle Gann wrote: "American expatriate pianist Heather O'Donnell gave as fiery a performance of Ives's Concord Sonata as I've ever heard."
She has performed extensively throughout America and Europe with recent festival appearances at MaerzMusik Berlin, Festival Agora Paris, the Alternativa Festival Moscow, AmerKlavier Festival Chicago, Peterhof Festival St. Petersburg, Indaba Festival South Africa, the Chopin Festival New York, Eclat Festival Stuttgart, and Tanglewood Music Center.
S he has also given solo recitals in such diverse cities as Amman, Krakow, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Moscow, New York, and Berlin, and appeared as a soloist with the St. Petersburg State Symphony, the Romanian State Philharmonic in Ploiesti, the DalSegno Chamber Orchestra, and the Harvard Orchestra.
With a strong commitment and admiration for contemporary music, Heather O'Donnell has collaborated with many composers, giving premieres of music by Luciano Berio, Walter Zimmermann, John Adams, and James Tenney.
She is the dedicatee of works by Michael Finnissy, Frederic Rzewski, Oliver Schneller and George Flynn, that she also premiered.
She has been featured on Deutschland Radio, Radio France, and Deutsche Welle Television and given lectures and masterclasses at Columbia University and Mannes College of Music (New York), DePaul University (Chicago), New England Conservatory (Boston), and Rhodes University (South Africa).
Heather O'Donnell was the first prize winner and the recipient of the Gaudeamus prize in the Fifth Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition in Krakow, Poland.
Heather O'Donnell was born in New York and began piano lessons at the age of five. Her most influential teachers were Stephen Drury and Peter Serkin. She also worked closely with Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, Emanuel Ax, and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. O'Donnell took several courses in Philosophy and Literature at the New School for Social Research and Columbia University, and was the teaching assistant of philosopher Paul Edwards at the New School.
She lives in Berlin with her husband, composer Oliver Schneller.
