Michael Kieran Harvey (born 7 July 1961) is an Australian pianist and composer whose career has been notable for its diversity and wide repertoire. He is renowned for commissioning, performing and composing new music. He has especially promoted the works of Australian composers and is also particularly associated with the piano music of Olivier Messiaen.
According to critic Clive O'Connell in The Age: "Few Australian pianists can touch Michael Kieran Harvey, one of the most exciting exponents of contemporary music in the country".O'Connell, Clive: CD review of Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux performed by Michael Kieran Harvey and Peter Cundall, Move MD 3299, The Age, 22 October 2005 After Harvey's US debut at Pasadena's Ambassador Centre in 1994 critic Alan Rich wrote: "In intermission conversation at Michael Kieran Harvey's U.S. debut recital the name of Glenn Gould was often heard, and with reason. Not since the heyday of the late flamboyant Canadian had a pianist come forward with such extraordinary technique combined with so vibrant a gift for stirring up controversy. Like him or not -- both factions were represented -- it had to be one of the most stimulating debut recitals within anyone's memory…This was one hell of an interesting concert".
Biography Family Michael Kieran Harvey was born in Sydney in 1961. He says that as a child he had great difficulty in coming to terms with being a musician, as he played four different codes of football and was also involved in surf lifesaving.Ben Holgate, "Classical champion", The Weekend Australian, 6–7 September 1999. His brother, Dominic, was head of brass at the Australian National University and is a noted conductor; his sister Bernadette, is a pianist.Sunday, 20 April 2003 and another sister, Rowan Harvey-Martin, is a violinist and noted conductor.The passion of the choir (pic), Ron Cerebona, The Canberra Times, 31 March 2014."Classic encounters", Limelight, February 2008. His mother, Anne (a student of Alexander Sverjensky), abandoned her plans to become a concert pianist when her own father died in her mid-teens. His father, Francis, was a journalist and for a time a freelance cellist. He is married to pianist Dr Arabella Teniswood-Harvey.Linda Smith, "TasWeekend: Couple find the keys to happiness", The Mercury, Lifestyle, 25 September 2016.
Background Harvey studied piano at the Canberra School of Music with Alan Jenkins, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under Gordon Watson, and at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, under Sándor Falvai. He first came to international prominence by jointly winning, with Edith Chen, the 1993 International Solo Piano Competition founded by Ivo Pogorelić in Pasadena, California, in which he introduced Carl Vine's Piano Sonata No. 1 to North America.
At the time, this was the world's richest piano competition. He entered the competition not believing he could win, but as an excuse to go to Los Angeles to see Frank Zappa, who was very ill, and to seek permission to play his piano music in public. However, Zappa died of cancer on the day of the finals and Harvey did not meet him.
Career
He has premiered many new Australian concertos by composers such as Carl Vine, Nigel Westlake, Paul Grabowsky, Larry Sitsky, David Joseph, Barry Conyngham, Don Kay, Yitzhak Yedid and Eve Duncan.
He has given Australian premieres of important international works by Louis Andriessen, Stefan Wolpe, Donald Martino, Frank Zappa, Jon Lord (of Deep Purple), Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Beat Furrer and Milton Babbitt.
Harvey has worked with conductors such as Edo de Waart, Reinbert de Leeuw, Diego Masson, Markus Stenz and Kristjan Järvi, and has collaborated with the Arditti Quartet, the Netherlands and Luxembourg Philharmonics, Jon Lord, Keith Emerson, and Paul Grabowsky. He regularly appears as soloist with Australian symphony orchestras.
He has performed and recorded most of Olivier Messiaen's works involving piano to high critical acclaim. In 2005 he released a live 3-CD recording of the Australian premiere of the entire Catalogue d'oiseaux featuring Peter Cundall as narrator. Despite his close association with Messiaen's music Harvey is an atheist, who describes himself as having escaped Catholicism in his early teens, as did Frank Zappa.
He has made premiere recordings of Carl Vine's piano music (including the 12 Preludes of 2006), much of which was written for him. He commissioned Nigel Westlake's Piano Sonatas I (1998) and II (2004) and Piano Concerto (2000) and gave the premiere performances. Harvey has commissioned and recorded major Australian piano cycles by Larry Sitsky, Mike Nock, and Graham Hair, and promoted major works by Helen Gifford, Warren Burt, Eve Duncan, Tom Henry, and Brett Dean."Michael Kieran Harvey : Represented Artist", Australian Music Centre
Compositions Harvey holds a PhD in composition and has recorded much of his own music.
Title Instrumentation Year Elektra piano with live electronics 1992 Toccata DNA piano 1993 Toccata DNA trio for percussion, flute and piano 1993 Addict piano with live electronics 1994 Spindrift piano with live electronics 1995 Kazohinia French horn, singer, piano, synthesiser, CD and live electronics 1997–98 Play the piano drunk until the fingers begin to bleed a bit electric piano and CD 2002 Miles away electric piano and CD 2002 ...until the fingers begin to bleed... amplified sextet (2 pianos, clarinet, viola, 2 electric guitars) 2002 Blood on the spinifex suite of 12 movements for electric piano and CD 2003 Pink Nautilus piano 2003 Piano Sonata No. 1 piano 2006 Kursk cello and piano 2007 48 Fugues for Frank cycle for piano/keyboards 2009 Makzurka piano 2011 Etude for trumpet in C and piano trumpet and piano 2011 Homage to Liszt percussion and piano 2011 Fear violin and piano 2011 Psychosonata (Piano Sonata No. 2) piano 2012 City of Snakes bass clarinet, drums, electric piano, bass 2013 Deus est fabula clarinet, piano, violin 2014 N-Chromium keyboards and rock ensemble 2014 Deaths Head Mandala synthesiser, electric guitar and rock ensemble 2014 The Ride of the Little Star piano 2014 Patañjali suite of five movements for two keyboards and percussion 2015 Carpe Diem piano 2015 "7" baritone saxophone and piano 2015 "7" alto saxophone and keyboards 2016 Portrait of Bob Brown violin and piano 2016 Piano Sonata No. 3 "Aporia" piano 2016 Homage to Liszt violin and piano 2016 Homage to Liszt solo piano 2017 The Green Brain cycle of 20 movements for piano/keyboards 2017–18 Tubby the president tuba and piano 2018 Module Fugue piano 2018 Keen piano 2018 Piano Sonata No. 4 "A. Gramsci" piano 2018 Catalogue des Errances Bibliques (duo), Symphony in no need of an orchestra cycle of 25 movements for duo keyboards 2018 Astro Labe, Coeur de Lion duo for trumpet and electric piano/synth/sequencer 2018 PRTZL solo for two opposing keyboards 2018 Catalogue des Errances Bibliques (ensemble), Symphony in no need of an orchestra cycle of 25 movements for narrator and ensemble 2019 Aporia II three pianos and percussion 2019 Divertimento solo piano 2019 Gestalt Climate for two pianos 2019 Duo for viola and piano viola and piano 2019 Rameaustein for iPads, iPhone and electric keyboard 2019 Inside the World of the Digital Narcissist for soprano and percussion 2019 Piano Sonata #5: "GRETA", Concerto in no need of an orchestra solo piano/electric keyboard 2020 Piano Sonata #6: '17 Graeme Lee Prints' solo piano 2020 Lawyers Are Lovely Misunderstood People And We Should All Be Much Kinder To Them solo piano 2021 Four Balladessolo piano2021Death Cap MushroomPiano, toy piano, extended rock kit, lead guitar, vocals2021Piano Sonata #7: "The Sparrow and the Mead Hall" solo piano2021Piano Sonata #8: "P. Singer" (War Sonata #1)solo piano2023Piano Sonata #9: "Sonata da Caemmerer" (War Sonata #2)solo piano2023Piano Sonata #10: "Riding With Death" (War Sonata #3)solo piano2023
Recordings