Next date
2025 (tbc)
Lecturer
Louis Lortie
Registration (PDF)
Our path to music
Beethoven Masterclass
After establishing the Casa Orfeo, Wilhelm Kempff began his annual Beethoven masterclasses in 1957. The 32 sonatas and the five piano concertos were and remained the central teaching material.
No individual lessons, all scholarship holders were always present to follow the playing of their colleagues. Kempff led the courses until 1982, and it was his express wish to continue offering them after his death.
Wilhelm Kempff died in Positano in 1991. Gerhard Oppitz continued his role from 1992 to 1995, followed by John O'Conor until 2011. Bernd Goetzke led the masterclasses from 2013 to 2016 and was succeeded by Jan G. Jiracek von Arnim from 2017 to 2023. In 2024, Louis Lortie was responsible for the Beethoven masterclass.
The Beethoven Masterclass 2019-2024 was funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
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Next date
2025 (tbc)
Lecturer
William Youn
Schumann Masterclass
The Schumann Masterclass took place for the first time in 2018 at the Foundation's premises in Positano, Italy. Since 2021, the course has been led by pianist and member of the Foundation Board William Youn.
The Schumann Course takes up and further develops the Beethoven Masterclasses, which characterise the foundation. During the Schumann course, four selected young talents meet three guest artists (or four with the lecturer) and work on and deepen Robert Schumann's chamber music oeuvre together in chamber music sessions.
The Schumann Masterclass 2019-2024 was funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
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Progetto Positano
The scholarship for young composers was launched by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation in collaboration with ensemble mosaik in 2017. Each year, two scholarship holders are invited to live and work at Casa Orfeo for a month.
Jack Sheen, composer and director (August 2024)
Ricardo Eizirik, composer (May 2024)
Georgia Koumará, composer (August 2023)
Maja Bosnić, composer (February 2023)
Kaj Duncan David, composer (June/August 2022)
Laura Bowler, composer und singer (March 2022)
Liisa Hirsch, composer (July 2021)
Chris Swithinbank, composer (May 2021)
Sara Glojnarić, composer (August 2020)
Wojtek Blecharz, composer (June/August 2020)
Julia Mihaly, composer (July/Oktober 2019)
Óscar Escudero, composer (June 2019)
Andreas Eduardo Frank, composer (September 2018)
Manuel Rodriguez Valenzuela, composer (June 2018)
Johan Svensson, composer (June 2017)
A project in cooperation with the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and ensemble mosaik.
You can find detailed information about the Progetto Positano here.
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18–25 September 2024
Concerts
18 September, 6.30 pm
Lecture-recital with Louis Lortie
22 September, 7 pm
Piano recital with Tähe-Lee Liiv and Evren Ozel
25 September, 7 pm
Final concert with Lena Neudauer, violin / Harriet Krijgh, violoncello / William Youn, piano
A co-operation with the
Comune di Positano.
Kempff Festival
The municipality of Positano celebrated the first Positano Kempff Festival with three exclusive concerts between 18 and 25 September 2024. The occasion was the upcoming 130th birthday of the pianist of the century Wilhelm Kempff (1895 - 1991), who was awarded honorary citizenship by the municipality of Positano 50 years ago.
Kempff made Positano his adopted home in the 1950s and, from 1957, organised masterclasses in Beethoven's piano music for young up-and-coming pianists from all over the world in the specially built Casa Orfeo. He maintained close contact with the community and saw the cultural foundation as an open place for people in the region who were interested in music. He regularly played for the residents of Positano and allowed the community to participate in the concerts of his course work. The idea of togetherness is important to those responsible at the Kempff Foundation, so that the foundation is experienced as a lively part of Positano's cultural life - very much in the spirit of Wilhelm Kempff.
This year, the Beethoven masterclass was led by Louis Lortie, an outstanding pianist of the 21st century. With his Beethoven expertise, he will carry on the legacy of the foundation's founder. The first concert of the festival took place with him on 18 September at 6.30 pm in the Casa Orfeo. In the form of a lecture-recital, he introduced the audience to the art of Beethoven's piano sonatas.
The second concert was a piano recital on Sunday, 22 September at 7 pm on the forecourt of Piazza Flavio Gioia with two up-and-coming pianists who have emerged from the Beethoven masterclass: Estonian pianist Tähe-Lee Liiv, who is only 20 years old, is considered a great hope for an international soloist career and played Beethoven's Sonata op. 90 and the so-called "Waldstein" Sonata op. 53. Evren Ozel is a US-American, multi-award-winning young pianist with an international concert career. He played Beethoven's sonatas op. 27 no. 2 and op. 109.
The festive conclusion of the festival on Wednesday, 25 September at 7 pm took also place on the Piazza Flavio Gioia with a piano trio concert: Lena Neudauer, violin (Germany) / Harriet Krijgh, violoncello (The Netherlands) / William Youn, piano (South Korea/Germany). The three internationally acclaimed chamber musicians played works by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert, Bach and Beethoven.
The concept and concert planning of the Kempff Festival Positano can be traced back to the artistic direction of William Youn, internationally renowned pianist and member of the Board of Trustees.
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Artist residencies
Every year, the foundation awards scholarships to outstanding artists for a four-week stay at Casa Orfeo.
Artists 2023:
Prof. Dr. Stephan Mösch, musicologist and publicist (December 2023)
Prof. Konstantia Gourzi, composer and conductor (November/December 2023)
Artists 2022:
Piano duo Yaara Tal & Andreas Groethuysen (December 2022)
Robert HP Platz, composer and conductoc (October/November 2022) final report (in German)
Artists 2021:
Prof. Chaya Czernowin, composer (December 2021), final report
Prof. Elmar Lampson, composer (December 2021)
Anna Gourari, pianist (August/September 2021)
Artists 2020:
Prof. Isabel Mundry, composer (September/October 2020), final report
Prof. Johannes Moser, cellist (September/October 2020)
The artist residencies 2020-2024 are funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
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