the pianist :: about
"Isabel Ettenauer succeeded with her Cage presentation and her virtuosity in a very special way. The pianist, whose concentration throughout the more than one hour lasting 'Sonatas and Interludes' was immensely noticeable till the end of the performance, conjured a world full of colour and joy. One wishes there were more performances like that which one doesn't get out of one's mind for several days and which let the audience enter in a space of creativity and infinity."
@cetera, Literarisch-kulturelles Magazin
Isabel Ettenauer's recitals delight her audiences with well balanced programming, a fresh approach to new music and great intensity. The love for the music she is performing, is conveyed to the listeners in a very direct way.
On the Grand piano Isabel likes to dedicate herself to monumental works. From 2001 onwards she did several performances of John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes, and recently she has immersed herself into Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations for performances of Karlheinz Essl's Gold.Berg.Werk.
She has also developed a number of solo programmes that focus on the diversity of piano music from the 20th and 21st centuries. Isabel is very interested in the development of newer piano techniques such as playing inside the piano, on a prepared piano and performing with electronics. In addition she has created programmes with both piano and toy piano pieces and/or works which use both instruments.
As a virtuoso pianist Isabel Ettenauer has appeared at a number of festivals and venues including the BMIC (London), the Leamington Festival (England), the Chicago Cultural Centre (USA), Haus der Musik and Alte Schmiede (Vienna), Steirischer Herbst (Graz) and the Festspielhaus St. Poelten (Austria).
In her piano solo repertoire there are, beside Cage and Bach/Essl, works by Austrian composers Olga Neuwirth and Christoph Herndler, British composers Joe Cutler, Rebecca Saunders Howard Skempton, Lydia Martin and American composers John Adams, Henry Brant, Philip Corner, George Crumb, Phil Glass, Jean Hasse, Charles Ives, Tom Johnson, Jerome Kitzke, Vanessa Lann, Stephen Montague and Terry Riley, to name a few.
Besides her solo performances Isabel Ettenauer likes to collaborate with other artists.
A very special experience was her meeting with American composer Henry Brant in 1999, which led to a participation in his huge spatial work 'Meteor Farm' at Dartington Hall, England, with the composer himself conducting. A few years later Henry Brant composed a toy piano piece for Isabel.
read about Gold.Berg.Werk
read about CAGE repertoire