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

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