University of Lethbridge

Biography

A native of Montreal, Brian Black studied music at McGill University, graduating with a Bachelor of Music in performance (piano) in 1977. He continued his piano studies in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Brigitte Wilde, one of Claudio Arrau's first piano students and his assistant in Berlin before the Second World War. In 1979, Black earned a certificate of advanced studies from the Guildhall School, followed a year later by a licentiate from the same school and an associate diploma from the Royal College of Music, both in performance.

During the 1980's, he pursued a career as a pianist and teacher, playing concerts in London, Northern England, and Montreal and appearing on Radio Canada, the French language arm of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1987, he returned to McGill University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Musicology. His area of specialty is early Romanticism, specifically the music of Schubert. He has written for the journal of the International Franz Schubert Institute in Vienna and has recently contributed an article on Schubert's Chamber Music to The Reader's Guide to Music: History, Theory, and Criticism, published by Fitzroy Dearborn in the United States.

From 1987 until recently Dr. Black also wrote programme notes for many music organizations in Montreal, including the CBC, The Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Pro Musica, L'Orchestre Metropolitain, I Musici and the Orford Festival as well as supplying liner notes to CBC records and Chandos records of England.

Selected Creative Works

Recitals
June 2005 - Lethbridge Public Library solo piano recital "Images in Music" Debussy, Liszt and Mussorgsky

July 2006 - Lethbridge Public Library, and Cranbrook, College of the Rockies solo piano recital "Schubert in 1828" 3 moments musicaux, Fantasie in F# minor, for piano duet, Sonata in Bb major, D. 960

Research Interests

Early Romanticism, specifically the music of Schubert; performance.

Current Research and Creative Activity

Title	Location	Grant Information	Principal Investigator	Co Researchers
Mozart - mature operas	Canada	NA.
Performance - solo piano recitals	Canada	NA.
Schubert - formal issues and Romantic aesthetics	Canada	NA.