Gabriela Imreh

Gabriela Imreh
Portrait of Gabriela Imreh
Born	Tirgu Mures, Romania
Occupation	Classical pianist

Gabriela Imreh is a Romanian-American classical pianist and an author.

Biography

A native of Transylvania, Imreh began piano studies at age five, and graduated summa cum laude from the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Romania. Following her professional debut at age 16, she frequently performed on state television with state philharmonic orchestras.^[1]

Imreh met her future husband, the American conductor Daniel Spalding, backstage after a concert in Romania. A subject of the Nicolae Ceausescu regime, Imreh exposed herself to potential state-sponsored peril in deciding to pursue the relationship - made even more contentious by a secret marriage to Spalding in Romania in 1985.^[2] Imreh was able to essentially escape to the U.S. in a trade orchestrated by former Secretary of State, George Shultz. Imreh moved to the United States in 1986.^[3] She became an American citizen in 1992.^[4] Since then, she and Spalding have been frequent collaborators on material not often heard elsewhere.^[5]^[6]

Practicing Perfection

Imreh is the co-author of a landmark scholarly book entitled Practicing Perfection: Memory and Piano Performance about memory and its relationship to the tradition of piano performance and practicing.^[7]^[8] The work is notable for challenging accepted ideas about the psychology of memory applied to musical performance.^[9]^[10]

Discovery of Vittorio Giannini Piano Concerto

Ms. Imreh brought to life the uncirculated 1935 Piano Concerto manuscript of Vittorio Giannini^[11] leading to a premier recording of the work in 2009 on the Naxos label. The resulting recording with the Bournemouth Symphony (Spalding conducting)^[12] received published praise from Karl Miller of Classical Net.^[13]

Discography

Bach: Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue; Partita No. 2; Toccata in E minor; Chaconne in D minor; Italian Concerto (1996)
Gabriela Imreh plays Liszt: Soirées de Vienne (2000)
Gabriela Imreh Plays Piano Transcriptions (2007)
Shchedrin & Liszt: The Daniel Spalding Collection, Vol. 1 (2009)
Vittorio Giannini Piano Concerto Symphony No.4 (2009)

References

External links

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