William Kinderman
Distinguished Professor and Elaine Krown Klein Chair in Performance Studies

William Kinderman, a formidable concert pianist, chamber musician, and an international authority on the music and creative process of Ludwig van Beethoven, is the inaugural holder of the Leo M. Klein and Elaine Krown Klein Chair in Performance Studies and professor of music at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. A 2010 recipient of the Humboldt Research Award for lifetime achievement, Kinderman provides vision and leadership in the academic curriculum for the school’s master of music and doctor of musical arts degree programs. The endowed chair, created through a gift from Elaine Krown Klein to honor her late husband, Leo, was established to attract and retain the highest level of performer-scholar to the school of music’s faculty and to enhance the music department’s reputation as an innovative center for the training of the “thinking musician.”

Kinderman has been praised for his “intellectual energy and distinctive insight” by the New York Times. His publications include books on Mozart, Wagner, and the creative process in music, as well as a book on Beethoven’s “Diabelli” Variations. His CD recording of that work (Hyperion, currently Arietta Records) was described as “the most outstanding Diabelli Variations to have appeared for ages” by the Penguin Guide to Compact Discs.

In 2017, Utopian Visions and Visionary Art: Beethoven’s ‘Empire of the Mind’ – Revisited was published as a result of his work as co-curator of Vienna’s first Beethoven Museum, where he organized a major conference on the German composer and pianist. Kinderman completed the book Beethoven: A Political Artist in Revolutionary Times for the 2020 worldwide celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth, a study that has also appeared in German and is being translated in simplified Chinese in mainland China and into traditional Mandarin in Taiwan. This volume includes a companion website with access to several of his recordings.

In 2021, Kinderman was the main organizer of a hybrid international conference on “Beethoven’s ‘Empire of the Mind’: Artistic ‘Effigies of the Ideal’ and the Cultural Politics of Resistance,” held in Bonn, Germany. In 2022, he was co-editor of a new book entitled Beethoven the European: Transcultural Contexts of Performance, Interpretation and Reception.

Kinderman received his bachelor of arts degree at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. He earned his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and taught at the University of Victoria in British Columbia for 20 years, while also holding guest appointments in Berlin. Since 2001, he has served as professor of music at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, along with several other affiliate, guest, and visiting appointments in Munich and Vienna. His recent lectures and recitals have taken him to Vienna, Bonn, Paris, Oslo, Barcelona, Beijing, Shanghai, New York, and Boston as well as other cities in Europe, Asia, and North America.

During September 2023, he is visiting several Chinese cities, with lectures and performances in Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Lanzhou, and Harbin.

A Beethoven scholar and esteemed pianist joins our musical community
Professor William Kinderman arrived in Los Angeles from the Midwest last week to assume his position as the inaugural holder of the Leo M. Klein and Elaine Krown Klein Chair
Aubrey Foard
Lecturer - Tuba Performance
Hitomi Oba
Lecturer and Director of Contemporary Jazz Ensemble
Andrew Ordonez
Events Manager - Department of Music Performance, Education and Composition
Lucy Yates
Lecturer - Vocal Diction and Vocal Coaching
Movses Pogossian
Distinguished Professor of Violin; Founder and Advisor, Armenian Music Program - Music Performance
Jonathan Davis
Lecturer - Oboe Performance
Lindsey Beardsley
Manager - Department of Music Performance, Education and Composition
Chris Hanulik
Adjunct Professor - String Bass Performance; Principal Bass LA Phil
Mildred Yi
Lecturer - Music Education
Inna Faliks
Professor - Head of Piano
Boris Allakhverdyan
Lecturer - Clarinet Performance, Principal Clarinet LA Philharmonic
Christoph Bull
Adjunct Professor - Organ Performance
Nick DePinna
Adjunct Assistant Professor - Musicianship
Wendy Caldwell
Lecturer - Vocal Coaching
Ian Krouse
Distinguished Professor - Co-Area Head, Composition
Alison Deane
Associate Adjunct Professor
Shahab Paranj
Gramian-Emrani Postdoctoral Fellow in Music and Lecturer - Composition, contemporary concert music
Ryan Brown
Lecturer - Choral Studies and Music Education
Gloria Cheng
Adjunct Professor - Contemporary Music, Performance Studies
David Lefkowitz
Professor - Composition, Vice Chair of the Department of Music
James Lent
Lecturer - Collaborative Piano
Amy Sanchez
Lecturer - Horn Performance
Jens Lindemann
Distinguished Professor - Trumpet Performance
Richard Danielpour
Distinguished Professor; Director of Gramian-Emrani Center for Iranian Music
Noah Meites
Lecturer - Music Theory
James Darrah
Professor - Director of Opera UCLA
Wendy Richman
Lecturer - Performance Studies
Joshua Ranz
Lecturer - Clarinet Performance
Varty Manouelian
Lecturer - Violin Performance, Violin LA Philharmonic
Dante De Silva
Lecturer - Composition and Music Theory
Melissa Bilal
The Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture, Director of Armenian Music Program
Brendan McBrien
Lecturer - Music Education
Jan Berry Baker
Professor - Saxophone, Head of Woodwinds, Vice Chair of the Department of Music, Special Assistant to the Dean for Faculty Mentoring
Camilo Cedeno
Assistant to the Chair - Department of Music Performance, Education and Composition
Benjamin Smolen
Lecturer - Flute Performance
Rakefet Hak
Continuing Lecturer - Opera UCLA
Iris Malkin
Lecturer - Vocal Coaching
James Miller
Lecturer - Trombone Performance, Associate Principal Trombone LA Phil
Che-Yen Chen
Professor - Viola Performance
Lily Chen-Hafteck
Professor - Music Education, Special Assistant to the Inaugural Dean for Curricular Reform
Ji Young An
Lecturer - Violin Performance
Gregory Goodall
Lecturer - Percussion Performance
David Kaplan
Inaugural Shapiro Family Chair in Piano Performance
Travis J. Cross
Professor - Conducting, Director of Bands
Sarah Koo Freeman
Visiting Professor - Cello Performance
Theresa Dimond
Lecturer - Percussion Performance
Dwayne Milburn
Lecturer - Conducting and Composition
Juliana Gondek
Distinguished Professor - Voice Performance
Lou Anne Neill
Lecturer - Harp Performance, Harp LA Philharmonic
Kay Rhie
Assistant Professor - Composition
Cheryl Lin Fielding
Lecturer - Vocal Diction and Vocal Coaching
Victoria Kirsch
Lecturer - Vocal Coaching
John Steinmetz
Lecturer - Bassoon Performance
Michael Dean
Professor - Voice Performance
Ben Hong
Lecturer - Cello Performance
Neal Stulberg
Professor - Conducting, Director of Orchestral Studies
Arturo O’Farrill
Director, UCLA Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra; Professor
Peter Golub
Lecturer - Composition, Music and Film
James Bass
Professor and Chair of the Department of Music, Director of Choral Studies
Noel Cano Hearn
Lecturer - Alexander Technique and Music Education
Vladimir Chernov
Distinguished Professor - Voice Performance
Johanna Gamboa-Kroesen
Assistant Professor - Music Education

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