George Lepauw
Project Leader and Pianist
“A prodigious pianist” (Chicago Tribune) recognized for his “singing tone” (New York Times), and someone who “likes to shake it up” (Chicago Tribune), George Lepauw is an artist and cultural activist who uses music and the arts to inspire and bring people together, following upon Beethoven’s idea of “brotherhood”. Named Chicagoan of the Year (2012) for Classical Music (Chicago Tribune), George represents the ideal 21st century musician, intensely focused on his art and wholly engaged with the world. In 2009 he had the honor of giving the World Premiere performance of a newly-discovered long-lost piano trio of Beethoven’s to great acclaim, which was followed by a highly-praised first recording on Cedille Records. In addition to his performance career, George is the Founder of the International Beethoven Project (IBP), a non-profit organization focused on innovation in the arts with which he has organized multi-disciplinary festivals, special events, educational programs, and annual “Beethoven Birthday Bashes”. From 2016 to 2018, George was also Executive Director of the Chicago International Movies & Music Festival (CIMMfest), which allowed him to deepen his passion for film, an artform he has occasionally participated in as a producer, consultant, composer and performer for over a decade. George, who grew up in France in a musical family (his grandfather was Principal Viola of the Paris Opera and of the Orchestre de Paris, and his father was First Violin with the Orchestre de Paris) began piano studies at the age of three in Paris with Aïda Barenboim (mother of pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim), and furthered his studies with Brigitte Engerer, Vladimir Krainev, Rena Shereshevskaya, James Giles, Ursula Oppens, and Earl Wild, among others. He has degrees from Georgetown University (Literature and Film Studies, and History), and from Northwestern University (Piano Performance). George is a frequent speaker and guest teacher at universities and “ideas festivals” as well as on radio and television. Recently, George composed music for the soundtrack to a prize-winning Virtual Reality documentary for Arte 360 on Claude Monet’s Waterlilies, which was on view at the Musée d’Orsay’s Orangerie Museum in Paris. His recording of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, out since February 2020 on Orchid Classics, has received unanimous praise in the press: ‘BBC Music Magazine’ gave it five stars, while The Arts Desk of London wrote that “the high spots are too numerous to mention”. To learn more about George and his projects, please visit www.georgelepauw.com.
Photo by Céline Oms at Rens Lipsius Ideal Artist House Nr. 2
Harms Achtergarde
Audio Producer
Harms Achtergarde was born in 1967 in Münster (Germany, Nordrhein-Westfalen). He studied at the “Erich Thienhaus Institut” of the “Hochschule für Musik Westfalen-Lippe” and graduated in 1995 as “Diplom Tonmeister” (audio producer) along with Double Bass and Piano studies. From there he started as a university lecturer for electro acoustics and recording production at the “Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar” (Franz Liszt Music Conservatory in Weimar, Germany) until 2002. In 2001 he started his own label (H.A.R.M.S.) for classical recording, also based in Weimar. Beside his many recording and producing activities, Harms Achtergarde also teaches as an academic in diverse institutions like “Bauhausuniversität Weimar”, “Technischen Universität Ilmenau”, and at the “Fernsehakademie Mitteldeutschland”.
Martin Mirabel
Film Director
After literary studies, the Paris-based Martin Mirabel published several articles between 2010 and 2012 in the magazine “l’Infini” edited by legendary author Philippe Solers for Gallimard. In 2013, Mr. Mirabel wrote and directed his first film, an adaptation from a tale by Fernando Pessoa, “The Pilgrim”, a 35 minutes film. Since then, Mr. Mirabel alternates between film and literary projects. For two years, he wrote and directed a documentary on French pianist Lucas Debargue that was shown on France Television and in select cinemas to great acclaim. He has most recently written and directed a documentary series of seven episodes on the history of the German Lied with distinguished musicologist André Tubeuf. Mr. Mirabel’s first book, a biography of composer Domenico Scarlatti released in the Fall of 2019 for publisher Actes Sud, was widely acclaimed in the press. He is now working on his second book and his first feature fiction film.
Mariano Nante
Film Director
Mariano Nante studied Film Direction at Universidad del Cine (FUC), and Philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Mr. Nante taught Film History and Film Aesthetics at several institutions, including Universidad del Cine (FUC). He started his career as a film director by helming several award-winning short films. In 2015, he wrote, directed and produced the feature documentary “Pianists Street” (La calle de los pianistas), shot in Belgium and Argentina. The movie premiered at the closing night of the Buenos Aires International Film Festival in the prestigious Teatro Colón to great critical response and went on to become one of the most successful documentaries from Argentina in the last few years. It received several awards including two nods at Málaga Film Festival and the two most important prizes in Argentina: “Best Documentary of the Year” by the National Academy of Motion Pictures (Premio Sur) and the Society of Film Critics (Premio Cóndor). Mariano Nante was one of the producers of “Piazzolla: The Years of the Shark” by Daniel Rosenfeld (coproduced by ARTE France and Idéale Audience), which premiered to great acclaim both from critics and audiences alike. In 2018 he directed “Beethoven: Last Sonatas”, a musical film for the small screen produced by ARTE France, Idéale Audience and Warner Classics, starring renowned French pianist Alexandre Tharaud. Mariano Nante is currently working on his first full feature fiction film, slated for production in 2020.
Additional Members
BACH48 team
Alejo Santos
film editor
Sebastian Palacio
film editor
Santiago Saponi
post-production coordinator
Javier Reboursin
graphic designer
Marcelo Perez
website developer
Céline Oms
project photographer
BACH48 is also made possible by the kindness and support of many organizations and individuals, to whom we are very thankful:
Primary Foundations
The Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Family Foundation
Lead Executive Producer
The Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Chicago
Ambassador Herbert Quelle
Associate Executive Producer
The Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation
Associate Executive Producer
The Reynolds Family Foundation
Producer
Marjorie Layden
Producer
Individual donors
Producers
Christopher Hunt
Herbert Quelle
Chaz Ebert
Tim and Paula Friedman
Marjorie Layden
Composers
Deirdre Hade and William Arntz
Cindy Huang and Narendra Acharya
Dietrich and Erika Gross
Yann Woolley
Colleen Loughlin
Performers
Michael Hanigan
Seth Kravitz
Enice and Perry Goldberg
Loretta Julian
Didier Lepauw
Jane Lepauw
Listeners
Jessica Jagielnik in memory of George M. Mariner
Jyldyz Wood and Arthur Hemberger
Serge and Lori Bourdon
Drs. Anne and Dennis Wentz
Pascal and Odile Jankowski
Brian Lauterbach
James Orr
Brett and Carey August
Albert and Amanda Kim
Raymund Acevedo
Nicholas and Carol Sommers
Karl and Gayle Maurer
Joanne Brooks
Debra DiMaggio
Lucile Agaisse
Stephen and Elizabeth Nightingale
Soumit Nandi
Laurence Saviers
Marianne Perez de Fransius
Marc Bushala of MAB Capital Management
Marion Goldfinger
Maya Polsky
Consuelo Lepauw
Nancy Rosene
Céline Oms
Preludes and Fugues
James Orr
Nicolas Bourgeon
Christophe Jacquemin
Lisa Zane
Brigitte and Jean-Pierre Canat
Claudie and Jacques Canat
Joëlle Florin Lalande
Guy Lalande
Tony and Sondra Karman
Karen and John Rosene
Brett and Carey August
Albert and Amanda Kim
François Meunier
Michael Hannigan
Eleanor Lapidus
Matthew and Nancy Sekerke
Melody and Ray O’Leary
Marianne Perez de Fransius
David Reithoffer
Carlotta Rotman
Didier Lepauw
Herbert and Corinna Quelle
Norbert and Mireille Thouvenot
William and Regina Davis
Eunice and Perry Goldberg
Mayumi Ichino
Pawel Checinski
Judith Kolata
Mark Zimmer
Leon and Linda Gottlieb
Diego Quijano
Olga Meerson
Loïc and Marie Rousset
Franz Burnier
Marc Bushala of MAB Capital Management
Paul-Henri Chevalier
Maya Polsky
Berna and Lee Huebner
Patreon Supporters
Seth Kravitz
Yann Woolley
Raymund Acevedo
Eunice Goldberg
James Orr
Lucile Agaisse
Rachid Darden
Marianne Perez de Fransius
Brett and Carey August
Amanda Kim
Laurence Saviers
Ray and Melody O’Leary
Jane Lepauw
Charles Bouygues
Judith Weinstein
Volunteers, friends and family
With gratitude to all the members of the International Beethoven Project teams over the course of the Bach48 project, and especially to: Tonika Todorova, Ainsley Klug, Lucile Agaisse, Kristen Brooks Schleiffer, Madison Briar, Anya Yermakova, Bryna Pascoe, Tennessee Hamilton, Mika Allison, Sasha Ongtengco, as well as Bach dancers Jacqueline Burnett, David Schultz, Alicia Delgadillo, Emilie Leriche, and Michael Gross.
Very special thank yous also to Baptiste Charvet, Brigitte & Jean-Pierre Canat and the entire Canat and Lalande families, and the friendly citizens of Chalabre and Weimar for helping facilitate the Bach48 project.
And with tremendous gratitude to Jane Lepauw, Didier Lepauw, Consuelo Lepauw, Nancy Rosene, Shirley Toomim, Achille Thomé-Oms and Céline Oms.
In memoriam, with love and gratitude
Aida Barenboïm
Roger Lepauw
Surprise
Mathilde Jardelot
Consuelo Rosene
David Toomim
Earl Wild
Vladimir Krainev
Brigitte Engerer
Charles Rosen
Aleksandra Jovanovic
Max Wilcox
Rebecca Tepfer