JACQUES LEISER, photographer
Best
known as an international artists manager, Jacques Leiser, has
represented and collaborated with many of the world's greatest concert
pianists, composers, violinists, composers and singers.
Very
early in his life, Leiser became fascinated with photography, and for
most of his career, he has never been far from his camera. Today his
photo archives are a vast treasure trove of images of famous musicians
and artists including Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian, Krysztof
Penderecki, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Maria Callas, Sviatoslav
Richter, Maurizio Pollini, Krystian Zimerman, Lazar Berman,
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Artur Rubinstein, Julius Katchen, Alfred Cortot,
Edwin Fischer, Annie Fischer, Clara Haskil, Heinrich Neuhaus, David
Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich, Otto Klemperer, Claudio Abbado,
as well as Pablo Picasso, Serge Poliakoff, Tennessee Williams, Queen
Elisabeth of Belgium and Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
Leiser
first met and photographed Richter while Leiser was working with the
Artists Department of EMI records. At EMI Leiser had created the
milestone series of the "Great Recordings of the Century." Determined
to sign up Richter for EMI, Leiser sought out the Russian pianist
during his first visit to the West (Helsinki in 1960). What followed
this initial contact was a 37-year professional association and
friendship one that included the creation of a remarkable
photographic essay on one of the giants of the piano.
Early
in 1998, some of Leiser's photographs of Sviatoslav Richter were
featured at the Louvre Museum as part of its Film Festival of Great
Pianists of the 20th. Century. Subsequent exhibits were held at
Lincoln Center, the San Diego Museum of Art, at Portland State
University in 1999, at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa
Barbara in 2001 and at USC in Los Angeles in 2002. A major exhibit,
consisting of about 70 photographic portraits was displayed at the
Music Conservatory in Zurich in October 2005. Future exhibits are
planned in 2006 at prominent Swiss Music Festivals and at the Geneva
Conservatory of Music.
Many of these photographs
have never previously been exhibited or published. Every photograph on
this exhibition is a contemporary enlargement from the Jacques Leiser
Photo Archives.
Through his many years of worldwide experience
as a representative and consultant of celebrated artists as well as
unknown talented artists, whom he has discovered at international music
competitions and elsewhere, Leiser has developed some lectures on
career development which have been held in the U.S. as well as in
Europe. Most recently, he has been invited to hold these lectures at
the Music Conservatory in Zurich as well as the Music Conservatory in
Geneva.
Leiser is currently preparing a book of his
recollections of music celebrities with whom he has been associated and
will include numerous photographs.
|
 Sviatoslav Richter 1961
 An interview with legendary Simon Barere, hosted by Jacques Leiser
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