Georges Kiss

The course will focus on what three great Baroque composers and pedagogues teach us through their works: Johann Sebastian Bach for “the art of cantabile”, Domenico Scarlatti for “the art of banter on the harpsichord” and François Couperin for “the art of touching the harpsichord”. The repertoire will be chosen by the students according to these three main themes.

Georges Kiss received the First Prize cum laude from the Music Conservatory of Geneva, in the class of Isabelle Nef. He was her assistant for several years, before creating a very active class at the Conservatory of Annecy (France), which trained numerous professional harpsichordists. His career as performer (more than two thousand concerts) has lead him to most European countries, to America and to Asia, as a soloist, in recitals, or in chamber music ensembles. His recordings include the complete work of Jacques Duphly, the concerto for three harpsichords by Mozart, the sonatas for flute and continuo by Sammartini, the sonatas for recorder and continuo by Philidor and Handel, and recently the concertos for one, two, three and four harpsichords by J. S. Bach, the Seven Last Words of Christ by Haydn and the album À l’Aube du Romantisme, dedicated to the sons of Bach. His research allowed him to publish various works of Hassler, Merulo, Van Koninck and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.