Sean Bennett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sean Bennett (born February 14, 1979) is a classical pianist from the United States. He has generated controversy for publicly rejecting purist classical interpretations in favor of more original performances which depart from the score. A former child prodigy, he became famous when he performed Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto at age 14 -- one of the youngest people ever to do so. He went on to win numerous competitions including a prize in the National Kosciuszko Chopin Competition at 17 before entering self-study at age 18. He has since become a public critic of competitions, suggesting that structural attributes inherent to large jury size cause outstanding but nonconformist artists to be eliminated in favor of non offensive but technically solid musicians. He is noted for being one of the earliest and only pianists to have performed and recorded Vladimir Horowitz's famed piano transcriptions.
Bennett is also known as one of the most downloaded classical pianists on the Internet, with albums "Classical Piano," "Transcriptions Live," and material from an out-of-print title "Teenage Hysteria" available on all major music download and purchase sites. He holds the distinction of being the only classical musician to have had a top ten selection on Download.com (10/2004) and has been the most viewed classical music channel on YouTube (9/2006).
Bennett also holds academic degrees from Harvard University and Cambridge University where he was a Gates Scholar. He has taught musicology, psychology, and neuroscience at both universities and researched linguistic sciences for Noam Chomsky at MIT, causing many to consider him a polymath.
