PROVOCATIVE THOUGHTS:
The late Patric Standford may have written these short pieces deliberately to provoke our feedback. If so, his success is reflected in the rich range of readers' comments appearing at the foot of most of the pages.
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American harpsichordist, musicologist and conductor Alan Curtis was born in Michigan on 17 November 1934. He studied at the University of Illinois, researching Sweeklinck keyboard music, then moved to Amsterdam to study (and later work) with Gustav Leonhardt, He made recordings of Bach and Rameau solo harpsichord music.
His academic career was divided between the USA and Europe. He researched and conducted baroque and pre-baroque operas, using period instruments and authentic choreography.
In Europe he founded Il Complesso Barocco and made recordings with the group for Virgin, Deutche Grammophon (Archiv) and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
He won the International Handel Recording Prize three times: 2002 (for Arminio), 2004 (for Deidamia) and 2006 (for Radamisto).
Alan Curtis died unexpectedly in Italy - on 15 July 2015 in Florence, aged eighty.