Bell Strokes: Schubert and Infinity

Bell Strokes, Schubert, and Infinity - a Lecture Recital on Music and Time

David Ebner piano

This lecture recital investigates different ways in which music captures the temporality of our existence. Time is discovered as a central motif featuring in three piano masterpieces from the Baroque, the Romantic, and the Impressionist period, and is found to be key to a deeper understanding of their composers: Bach, Schubert, and Ravel.

Drawing on philosophical arguments, historical facts, and musicological observations, the event explores notions like ephemerality, timelessness, and infinity, and how they become manifest in music.

Ravel Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55, Le Gibet
Schubert Sonata in A minor, D 784, Op. post. 143
Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier II, Prelude and Fugue in B major, BWV 892

David Ebner, a pianist and philosophy scholar, champions a humanist perspective on music.

Trained by the renowned pianist Maria João Pires from the age of eleven, David's interdisciplinary approach has led him to perform at venues such as Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and Vienna’s Ehrbar Palace, and offer lecture recitals at Oxford.

He has collaborated with the Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra on a concert series, participated in a German television panel discussion, contributed to an international fundraising festival for the WHO, and completed a Master's in Politics at the University of Cambridge.

David graduated as the top student in piano from the Mozarteum University Salzburg and is currently pursuing an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma under Pascal Nemirovski at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

He benefits from the support of a Leverhulme Arts Scholarship.

Running time approx. 85 minutes