Ilse von Alpenheim

Biography

Born at Innsbruck, she was trained by her mother, a piano teacher, and made her first public appearance as soloist at the age of nine in Joseph Haydn's Piano Concerto Hob. XVIII,11. Starting from 1944 she studied with Winfried Wolf in Kitzbühel and, from 1946 to 1949, with Franz Ledwinka at the Mozarteum at Salzburg. In 1951 she moved to Switzerland.

In the mid-1950s she met Sándor Veress, a Hungarian composer, with whom she lived for over a decade. She was instrumental in promoting the piano works of Veress. Between 1960 and 1968 she was in charge of a concert class at the Conservatory of Berne. In 1971 she became the wife of Antal Doráti, another Hungarian conductor and composer, who wrote several works for her and with whom she developed an intensive international concert activity.

Her career took her to four continents where she appeared in recitals and as a soloist with many of the leading orchestras. Among her chamber music partners, some of them lasting over decades, were Max Rostal, Henryk Szeryng, Igor Ozim, Walter Grimmer, the Amadeus Quartet and the Camerata Bern.

Her repertory focused mainly on the classical and early romantic composers. Her interpretation was especially appreciated for her highly sensitive sound and structural transparency.

Ilse von Alpenheim has recorded all the Haydn piano sonatas, concertini and concerti. The sonatas have recently (2015) been issued for the first time on CD by the Antal Doráti Centenary Society. She also made an integral recording of the Songs Without Words by Mendelssohn. Together with the Arion Trio, she has recorded all Mozart's piano trios and the complete works of Schubert for piano and strings.