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The American harpsichordist, Louis S. Bagger, received a Bachelor's degree in Italian literature from Yale University and a Master of Fine Arts in musicology from Princeton University. His harpsichord studies were with two of the acknowledged masters of our time: Ralph Kirkpatrick and Gustav Leonhardt. In addition, he studied piano with Arthur Loesser and Edward Steuermann, organ with Frank Bozyan and Carl Weinrich, and, in Rome as a Fulbright scholar, with Ferruccio Vignanelli. While at Yale he studied under Paul Hindemith and took part in his Collegium Musicum. His love of J.S. Bach was well established in childhood. At age 13, he performed “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” at his graduation ceremony from The Little Red School House in New York City.
Louis Bagger had an early career as an opera coach. Trained at Tanglewood under Boris Goldovsky (1952-1954), he was employed as an opera coach for seven years, first at Tanglewood, then Duxbury, MA, and finally at the Manhattan School of Music (1955-1962). He also performed regularly as the pianist in such Manhattan opera companies as the Amato Opera Theater, La Puma Opera Workshop, and Broadway Grand Opera, as well as others in Philadelphia.
Louis Bagger was widely recognized as a recitalist and chamber musician. He presented recitals in Boston, New York, and Washington and has performed on concert tours at colleges and universities across the USA. He also appeared at the Aston Magna Festival, the Gulbankian Festival in Portugal, and as a guest artist with the Waverly Consort, the Boston Camerata, the Cambridge Society for Early Music, and, on a European tour, with the Baroque Trio. The New York Times wrote that Bagger "has the technique to do anything he wants," and the Boston Globe noted that "this is about the biggest harpsichord playing I've ever heard -- bounding rhythms, vigorous articulation and daring conceptions."
Louis Bagger served on the faculties of Brandeis University and Harvard University, as artist-in-residence at the University of California at Davis, and on the summer staff of the Eastman School of Music, and most recently at on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. Among his pupils: Sarah Brink, Eric Canepa, Suzanne Cleverdon, Jonathan Floril, Paul Guglietti, Aya Hamada, Mark Kroll, Timothy Ku, Jean Newton, Rebecca Pechefsky, Tom Pixton, Jocelyn Stewart, Beth Vanderborgh (Cello).
Louis Bagger recorded, both as a soloist and with other solo artist, for Vox, Monitor, Musical Heritage Society and Titanic Records. He was an avid film buff, master of diverse languages, and explorer of the world in diverse ways. He passed away on July 20, 2024, in New York City, of complications of Parkinson’s Disease. |
