The Alexander Goldenweiser Tradition
Piano Traditions Through Their Genealogy Trees
© 2022, by Daniel Pereira
Doctor of Musical Arts | www.daniel-pereira.com
Aronovsky, Sulamita
Lithuanian (1929)
Sulamita Aronovsky is a pianist and teacher. She studied with Lev Barenboim, Abram Schatskes, Grigory Ginzburg and Alexander Goldenweiser. She founded the London International Piano Competition in 1991 and teaches at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Royal Northern College of Music. Her students include Nicolas Hodges and Nicholas Angelich.
Barenboim, Lev
Russian (Odessa, January 31, 1906 — June 25, 1985)
Lev Barenboim was a pianist, musicologist and teacher. He studied with Germina Biber at the Odessa Conservatory and with Felix Blumenfeld at the Moscow Conservatory. He published books on Anton Rubinstein and Emil Gilels as well as on such subjects as education and performing.
Bashkirov, Dmitry
Russian (Tbilisi, November 1, 1931 — Madrid, March 7, 2021)
Dmitry Bashkirov was a pianist. He studied with Anastasia Virsaladze at the Tbilisi Conservatory and with Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory, where he was appointed professor in 1957. He was awarded at the 1955 Long-Thibaud Competition. Bashkirov founded a trio with Igor Bezrodny and Mikhail Komnitzer. In 1991, he was appointed professor at the Queen Sofia Music School in Madrid. Among his students were Dmitri Alexeev, Arcadi Volodos, Nikolai Demidenko, Boris Bloch and Bashkirov´s own daughter Elena Bashkirova. He made numerous recordings for Melodiya, Harmonia Mundi and Erato.
[See the Dmitry Bashkirov Tradition]
Berman, Lazar
Russian (Saint Petersburg, February 26, 1930 — Florence, February 6, 2005)
Lazar Berman was a pianist. Anna Makhover, his mother, started instructing him on the piano by age 2 and, shortly after, Samary Savshinsky became his teacher at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Subsequently, Berman entered the Moscow Conservatory in Alexander Goldenweiser´s class. Due to his marriage to a woman from France, he was not permitted to tour abroad from 1959 to 1971. He later divorced her. Berman recorded the complete Liszt´s Transcendental Etudes, Rachmaninov´s Third Concerto, and Tchaikovsky´s First Concerto in its original version. In 1988, because of American forbidden books were found in his suitcase, he was banned from touring abroad again. He taught in Norway, Italy and at the Musikhochschule in Berlin. Berman and his son, violinist Pavel Berman, performed together in concert.
Bernaldo de Quirós, Enrique
Spanish (Moscow, 1981)
Enrique Bernaldo de Quirós is a pianist born to a Russian mother and a Spanish father. He begun his musical studies in Moscow and later continued in Madrid at the Real Conservatorio and at the Escuela Superior Reina Sofía, with Galina Eguiazarova. He also studied organ with Anselmo Serna. Bernaldo de Quirós teaches at the Conservatorio Superior de las Islas Baleares in Majorca, Spain. He has made records for Columbia Música and Play Classics.
Biber, Germina
No information found.
Blagoy, Dmitry
Russian (Moscow, April 13, 1930 — Moscow, June 13, 1986)
Dmitry Blagoy was a pianist, composer, musicologist and poet. His parents were eminent Soviet philologists and scholars. in Moscow, he was a student of E.P. Hoven at the Central School and of Alexander Goldenweiser at the Conservatory, where he also taught since 1958. Blagoy made nearly 300 hundred recordings for the State TV and radio and wrote over 200 articles as musicologist and journalist. He composed a number of piano pieces including the Fairytale Sonata, Capriccio Brillant, for piano and orchestra, Mountain Vision and Dedication.
Blumenfeld, Felix
Russian (Kovalyovka, South Ukraine, April 19, 1863 — Moscow, January 21, 1931)
Felix Blumenfeld was a pianist, conductor, teacher and composer. Heinrich Neuhaus was his nephew. He was a piano student of Stein at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he taught since 1885. He also taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1922 to 1931. Among his students were Horowitz, Grinberg and Barere. Blumenfeld was conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre where he premiered Rimsky-Korsakov´s Servilia and Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, as well as Russia´s first performance of Tristan und Isolde. He also premiered numerous piano works of such composers as Glazunov, Lyadov and Arensky. As a composer, he produced the 24 Preludes and sets of variations, among others.
[See the Felix Blumenfeld Tradition]
Braginsky, Alexander
Russian (May 29, 1944)
Alexander Braginsky is a pianist and pedagogue. He was a pupil of Alexander Goldenweiser and Theodore Gutman at the Moscow Conservatory. After residing in the United Kingdom, he settled in the USA where he teaches at the University of Minnesota and Hamline University in Saint Paul. His recordings include Shostakovich´s 24 Preludes, Piano Sonata no. 2 and the Cello sonata op. 40 which he recorded with his wife, Tatiana Remenikova. In 2022, Braginsky founded the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition.
Demidenko, Nikolay
Russian (Anisimovo, July 1, 1955)
Nikolay Demidenko is a pianist. He was a pupil of Anna Kantor at the Gnessin School and with Dmitri Bashkirov at the Moscow Conservatory. He was a finalist at the 1976 Montreal Competition and at the 1978 Tchaikovsky Competition. Demidenko taught at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England and currently at the University of Surrey. He has made over 40 records for Hyperion, Onyx Classics and AGPL, among others.
Door, Anton
Austrian (Vienna, June 20, 1833 — Vienna, November 7, 1919)
He had an important impact on the Russian school of pianism. He was a member of the Royal Academy in Stockholm and president of the Friends of Brahms Society in Vienna. He was the dedicatee of Tchaikovsky´s Valse-Caprice op. 4 and Saint-Saëns´ Piano Concerto no. 4.
[See the Anton Door Tradition]
Eguiazarova, Galina
Russian (1936)
Galina Eguiazarova is a pianist and teacher. She studied with Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory, where she also taught since 1961. Subsequently, she moved to Spain, where she was appointed assistant professor to Dmitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior Reina Sofía in Madrid and, in 2001, was made full professor. Among her numerous students are Radu Lupu, Arcadi Volodos, Enrique Bernaldo de Quirós, Juan Pérez Floristán, Luis Fernando Pérez and Martín García.
Eguiserian, Assanetta
Armenian (December 20, 1925 — November 29, 2006)
Assanetta Eguiserian was a pianist. She was the mother of Andrei Gavrilov and a pupil of Heinrich Neuhaus.
Feinberg, Samuel
Russian (Odessa, May 26, 1890 — Moscow, October 22, 1962)
Samuel Feinberg was a pianist, teacher and composer of Jewish descent. He studied with Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory and performed Scriabin´s Fourth Sonata for the composer. In 1914, Feinberg was forced to join the Polish front, but he fell ill and contracted typhus. In 1922, he was appointed professor at the Moscow Conservatory. He toured as a concert pianist in Italy, Austria and Germany. He was the first Russian pianist to perform in concert the complete Well-tempered clavier. Feinberg was diagnosed with a heart ailment in 1951. However, he continued to record, perform and compose. His works include three piano concertos, 12 sonatas, two Fantaziyas and two Suites.
Floristán, Juan Luis Pérez
Spanish (Seville, February 27, 1993)
Juan Pérez Floristán is a pianist. Born to musical parents, his father is a conductor and his mother a pianist and teacher. Alfredo Floristán, his grandfather, was a prestigious geographer. His most important teachers were Galina Eguiazarova in Madrid and Eldar Nebolsin in Berlin. Other pianistic and musical influences came from Ana Guijarro, Daniel Barenboim, Elisabeth Leonskaja and Javier Perianes. Floristán made records for WDR, Naxos and IBS.
García García, Martín
Spanish (Gijón, December 3, 1996)
Martín García is a pianist. He begun his piano instruction with Natalia Mazoun and Ilyá Goldfarb at the Escuela de Música Viva Tchaikovsky. Subsequently, he entered the Escuela Superior Reina Sofía in Madrid where he worked with Galina Eguiazarova and, in New York, at the Mannes School of Music with Jerome Rose. He received the first prize at the 2021 Cleveland Competition and the third prize at the 2021 Chopin Competition.
Gavrilov, Andrei
Russian (Moscow, September 21, 1955)
Andre Gavrilov is a pianist. He begun piano lessons with his mother, the Armenian pianist Assanetta Eguiserian, and continued with Tatyana Kestner and Lev Naumov. He won first prize at the 1974 Tchaikovsky Competition. In 1979, Gavrilov was accused of being anti-Soviet which resulted in the temporary end of his career, which he could not restart until 1984. He made numerous records including Bach´s Goldberg Variations, French Suites and the complete concertos, Chopin´s Études and Rachmaninov´s Third Piano Concerto. In 1993, Gavrilov took an unplanned 8-year sabbatical due to personal artistic dissatisfaction.
Ginzburg, Grigory
Russian (Nizhniy Novgorod, May 29, 1904 — Moscow, December 5, 1961)
Grigory Ginzburg was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory, where he taught since 1929. Ginzburg transcribed some works for piano and, among his numerous recordings, are the two Suites opp. 5 and 17 for two pianos by Rachmaninov with Goldenweiser.
Ghindin, Alexander
Russian (Moscow, April 17, 1977)
Alexander Ghindin is a pianist. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Mikhail Voskresensky. He received second prize at the 1999 Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium) and first prizes at the 2007 Cleveland Competition (USA) and 2010 Santa Catarina Competition (Brazil). Ghindin has made numerous records for Decca, Capriccio, Ondine, DML and Naxos, among others. He is the International Artistic Co-Director of the Swedish Royal Festival and Artistic Director and Conductor of the Ensemble of Soloists Hermitage and Kaluga Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Goldenweiser, Alexander
Russian (Chisinau, March 10, 1875 — Moscow, November 26, 1961)
Alexander Goldenweiser was a pianist, teacher, writer and composer. He studied with Siloti and Pabst at the Moscow Conservatory. He developed a close relationship with Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Medtner. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1906 to 1961 and had a profound impact on the music education system after the revolution. In 1932, he founded the Central Music School. Goldenweiser had numerous illustrious students such as Bashkirov, Feinberg, Nikolayeva and Paperno. In 1955, his apartment became a museum.
[See the Alexander Goldenweiser Tradition]
Gutman, Theodore
Ukrainian (Kiev, November 11, 1905 — 1985)
Theodore Gutman was a pianist. He was a pupil of Heinrich Neuhaus. He received the 8th prize at the 1932 Chopin Competition and 3rd prize at the 1933 All-Union Music Competition in Moscow. He taught at the Gnessin Institute and at the Moscow Conservatory.
Hoven, E. P.
E.P. Hoven was a pianist and teacher. He was a pupil of Alexander Goldenweiser and had Dmitry Blagoy among his students.
Kantor, Anna Pavlovna
Russian (Saratov, Russia, May 27, 1923 — Prague, Czech Republic, July 28, 2021)
Anna Kantor was a pianist and teacher. She studied with Tamara Bobovitch and later with Abram Shatskes at the Moscow Conservatory. Her students included Eugeny Kissin and Nikolay Demidenko.
Kapustin, Nikolay
Ukrainian (Gorlovka, Donetsk province, November 22, 1937 — Moscow, July 2, 2020)
Nikolay Kapustin was a composer. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Alexander Goldenweiser. He worked as the pianist for the Oleg Lundstrem´s Symphony Orchestra of Light Music, the Television and Radio Light Orchestra of Vadim Lyudvikovsky and the Sate Cinematography. Kapustin frequently performed with jazz musicians. He composed 6 piano concertos, 9 piano sonatas, Variations, 24 Preludes, 10 Bagatelles and studies, among other works.
Kabalevsky, Dmitry Borisovich
Russian (Saint Petersburg, December 1904 — Moscow, February 14, 1987)
Dmitry Kabalevsky was a composer and teacher. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Alexander Goldenweiser and composition with Myaskovsky. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory since 1932. Kabalevsky composed three piano concertos, three piano sonatas, 2 Sonatinas op. 13, 24 Preludes op. 38, the method A School of Piano Playing and numerous collections of children´s pieces.
Kestner, Tatiana
Russian
Tatiana Kestner was a pianist and teacher. She was a pupil of Alexander Goldenweiser. Among her students were Anna Kantor, Andre Gavrilov, Nikolai Lugansky, Nikolay Petrov and Tatiana Shebanova. Kestner taught at the Gnessin Institute and at the Central School in Moscow.
Kissin, Eugeny
Russian (Moscow, October 10, 1971)
Eugeny Kissin is a pianist. His only teacher was Anna Kantor at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow. He appeared with orchestra at the age of 10 and at 13 achieved an extraordinary success performing the Chopin´s both piano concertos. Kissin has recorded extensively for Deutsche Grammophon. He has also given poetry recitals in Yiddish and Russian and published his autobiography Memoirs and Reflections in 2018. His compositions have been published by Henle Verlag.
Klyachko, Ilya
Russian (1905 — 1998)
Ilya Klyachko was a pianist and teacher. He was a pupil of Alexander Goldenweiser and taught at the Moscow Conservatory. One of his students was Mikhail Voskresensky.
Liszt, Franz
Hungarian (Raiding, (in Hungarian: Doborján), October 22, 1811 — Bayreuth, July 31, 1886)
Pianist, conductor, teacher and composer, he is indisputably one of the greatest piano virtuosi of all time and a pioneer in different areas: he is the father of modern piano technique, inventor of the piano recital, the masterclass and of novel concepts in orchestral conducting. He performed complete concerts by memory, performed works from the entire history of the keyboard literature and always opened the lid of the piano towards the audience. His compositions envisioned new harmonic paths which greatly influenced Debussy, Ravel or Scriabin. Born in the Burgenland, a region which nowadays belongs to Austria, located at about 100 kms from Vienna, Liszt´s native tongue was German and he never became fluent or comfortable in Hungarian. His father, Adam, an amateur musician who worked for a long time at the Esterházy estates and met Joseph Haydn, gave him his first music lessons. During his travels, Liszt met Beethoven, Brahms, Anton Rubinstein, Chopin, Schumann, Berlioz, Alkan, Hiller, Grieg and many other contemporary figures. A student of Czerny, Salieri, Reicha and Ferdinando Paer, he went on extended concert tours in Europe, England, Scotland, Russia, Turkey, Spain and Portugal, playing numerous and populated recitals such as the one offered at La Scala in Milan for 3000 people. At the age of 35, he decided to abandon the stage and devote his time to mostly compose, teach and doing a great deal of travelling, especially to Weimar, Rome and Budapest. Always interested in the live of the saints, religion and spiritual life, he received the four minor Catholic orders in July 1865. He lived at the Vatican for a time and became friends with Pope Pius IX. His compositional output for piano is enormous. His large-scale works include the Sonata in B minor, the Dante Sonata and the piano concertos. He went beyond the Romantic concept of the étude with the 12 Transcendental Études, 6 Paganini Études or the several Études de Concert, and wrote numerous Hungarian Rhapsodies. He produced numerous sets of pieces including the Années de Pèlerinage, Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, as well as the Ballades and the Mephisto Waltzes. Liszt also made numerous transcriptions of Bach´s works, Schubert lieder and Beethoven symphonies and paraphrases on operatic themes such as Rigoletto, Don Juan and Norma. In the late pieces, he explored new harmonic devices, the exploitation of the limits of tonality and atmospheric effects in Nuages Gris, La Lugubre Gondola, Unstern! and Bagatelle sans tonalité. He produced editions of the Beethoven complete sonatas, Field´s nocturnes, Chopin´s complete works, and of pieces by Schubert and Weber. The most authoritative catalogue of Liszt´s works was compiled by British composer Humphrey Searle, hence the use of the letter “S” following the titles of Liszt´s works. Liszt had three children, two of them died during his lifetime and his daughter Cosima was married to Bülow before she left him for Richard Wagner. By the end of his life, Liszt suffered from dropsy, fevers and cataracts. He likely died f heart infraction at the age of 74.
[See the Franz Liszt Tradition]
Lugansky, Nikolai
Russian (Moscow, April 26, 1972)
Nikolai Luganski is a pianist. He studied at the Central School and Conservatory in Moscow where his teachers included Tatiana Kestner, Tatiana Nikolayeva and Sergei Dorensky. He was awarded the Silver Medal at the 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition (no first prize awarded). He has made numerous recordings for Melodiya, Vanguard Classics, Pioneer Classics, Warner, Erato, DG and Harmonia Mundi, among others. He teaches at the Moscow Conservatory.
Lupu, Radu
Romanian (Galati, November 30, 1945)
Radu Lupu is a pianist and conductor. He studied with Florica Musicescu and, after obtaining a scholarship in 1963, with Galina Eguiazarova and Heinrich and Stanislav Neuhaus at the Moscow Conservatory. He continued his studies in London with Maria Curcio. Lupu won several international competitions such as the 1966 Van Cliburn, the 1967 Enescu International and in 1969 in Leeds. He has made numerous records for Decca and was nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning the 1966 for an album with two Schubert piano sonatas. His first wife was cellist Elizabeth Wilson. Subsequently, he married a violinist who plays with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne.
Medtner, Nikolai
Russian (Moscow, January 5, 1880 — London, November 13, 1951)
Nikolai Medtner was a pianist and composer. He received his first piano lessons from his mother and from Alexander Goedicke´s father Fyodor. In 1891, he entered the Moscow Conservatory where he studied piano with Pavel Pabst, Vasily Sapellnikoff and Vasily Safonov. Medtner and his wife, violinist Anna Bratenskaya (previously married to Medtner´s older brother Emil), settled in London in 1936. His piano works include 14 sonatas, 3 piano concertos, 38 Fairy Tales and the two piano piece Russian Round-Dance op. 58 no. 1. Medtner made some piano roll recordings for Welte-Mignon in 1923 and Duo-Art in 1925, and a studio recording for Capitol Records, among others. He published The Muse and the Fashion, being a defense of the foundations of the Art of Music (1935, in English in 1951).
Merzhanov, Viktor
Russian (Tambov, August 15, 1919 — Moscow, December 20, 2012)
Viktor Merzhanov was a pianist and teacher. He was a pupil of Samuel Feinberg at the Moscow Conservatory, where he also studied organ with Alexander Goedicke. From 1941 to 1945, he served in the Soviet army. The following year, he was awarded first prize ex aequo with Sviatoslav Richter at the All-Union Competition on Moscow. He taught at the Moscow and Warsaw conservatories. Merzhanov made numerous recordings with the works of Schubert, Chopin and Brahms, among others.
Naumov, Lev Nikolayevich
Russian (Rostov, February 12, 1925 — Moscow, August 21, 2005)
Lev Naumov was a pianist, composer and teacher. He was a student of Heinrich Neuhaus, becoming his assistant and later his successor at the Moscow Conservatory. His students included Alexei Lubimov, Alexei Nasedkin, Vladimir Viardo, Andrei Gavrilov, Sergei Babayan and Dong-Hyek Lim, among others.
[See the Lev Naumov Tradition]
Neuhaus, Heinrich Felix Gustavovich
Russian (Elisavetgrad, Imperial Russia [later Kirovograd, Ukraine], April 12, 1888 — Moscow, October 10, 1964)
Heinrich Neuhaus was a pianist and pedagogue. His uncle was Felix Blumenfeld and his cousin Karol Szymanowski. He studied with Aleksander Michalowski in Warsaw, with Leopold Godowsky in Berlin and with Karl Heinrich Barth. At the outset of World War I, Neuhaus returned to Russia and would never leave again the future Soviet territories. From 1916 to 1918, he taught at the Specialist Music School (later renamed Tbilisi Conservatory) in Tbilisi, and from 1919 he was a professor at the Kiev Conservatory. He was transferred to the Moscow Conservatory in 1922, where he was one of the professors involved in establishing the Central Music School. In November 1941, Neuhaus was arrested and sent into exile to Sverdlovsk, where he taught at the Ural Conservatory between 1942 and 1944. He contracted polio in 1933. He published About the Art of Piano Playing in 1958. Among his pupils were Lev Naumov, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Yakov Zak, Alexei Lubimov and Vladimir Krainev.
[See the Heinrich Neuhaus Tradition]
Nikolayeva, Tatiana
Russian (Bezhitza, May 4, 1924 — San Francisco, November 22, 1993)
Tatiana Nikolayeva was a pianist, composer and teacher. Her mother was a professional pianist and a former student of Alexander Goldenweiser, with whom Nikolayeva studied since the age of 13. In 1950, she won first prize at the Bach Competition in Leipzig. Since 1959, she taught at the Moscow Conservatory and at the summer courses of the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar. Nikolai Lugansky and András Schiff were among her students. Nikolayeva frequently performed the complete Well-tempered clavier and Beethoven´s 32 Sonatas. She composed two piano concertos, 24 Concert Études and a piano sonata.
Pabst, Pavel
Russian (Königsberg, now Kaliningrad, May 15, 1854 — Moscow, June 9, 1897)
Born into a family of musicians in East Prussia, he was one of the most influential piano teachers in Russia and his students brought the Russian tradition into the 20th century. He performed with Rachmaninov, premiered Arensky´s Piano Concerto and wrote numerous piano transcriptions which are regarded as fine as those of Liszt. In 1884, Tchaikovsky appointed him editor of his piano works. He wrote a Piano Concerto, which he premiered under Anton Rubinstein´s baton, who was the dedicatee of his Piano Trio in A major.
[See the Pavel Pabst Tradition]
Paperno, Dmitry
Russian-American (Kiev, 1929 — Northbrook, Illinois, 2020)
Dmitry Paperno was a pianist. He studied with Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory. He won 6th prize at the 1955 Chopin Competition. Paperno made records for Melodiya and Cedille Records. He taught at the Gnessin School in Moscow and at the DePaul University and published the book Notes of a Moscow Pianist.
Pérez, Luis Fernando
Spanish (Madrid, 1977)
Luis Fernando Pérez is a pianist. He studied at the Pozuelo de Alarcón Conservatory and, in 1993, he entered the Escuela Superior Reina Sofía in Madrid where his piano teachers were Dmitry Bashkirov and Galina Eguiazarova. Subsequently, he pursued further studies at the Hochshule für Musik in Cologne with Pierre-Laurent Aimard. He also received lessons from Alicia de Larrocha and Carlota Garriga. His recording of the Suite Iberia has been critically acclaimed and received the Albéniz Medal. Fernando Pérez teaches at the Katarina Gurska Center in Madrid, at the Marshall Academy in Barcelona and at the Conservatorio Superior de Aragón in Zaragoza.
Petrov, Nikolay
Russian (Moscow, April 14, 1943 — Moscow, August 3, 2011)
Nikolay Petrov was a pianist. He was a pupil of Tatiana Kestner at the Central School in Moscow and of Yakov Zak at the Conservatory. In 1962, he received the second prize at the first Van Cliburn Competition and the silver medal at the 1964 Queen Elisabeth Competition. During the Cold War years, Petrov was allowed to tour extensively and became an ambassador of Soviet composers. His recording of the 1838 version of Liszt´s Études d´exécution trascendante d´après Paganini was highly praised.
Roysman, Leonid
Russian (Kiev, January 4, 1916 — Moscow, March 26, 1989)
Leonid Roysman was a pianist, organist and musicologist of Jewish descent. He studied with Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory, where he later taught piano, organ and harpsichord since 1942. Roysman was seriously committed to the construction of organs and championed Russian organ music. He was co-editor of the New Bach Edition.
[See the Leonid Roysman Tradition]
Rubinstein, Nikolay
Russian (Moscow, June 2 or 14, 1835 — Paris, March 11 or 23, 1881)
Pianist, conductor and teacher, he was the brother of Anton Rubinstein. He opened the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society in 1859, which later became the Moscow Conservatory, with Tchaikovsky among its teachers. He toured Russia as a child with Alexander Villoing and also studied medicine at Moscow University in order to avoid enlisting in the army. He was a superb pianist and teacher although, as did his brother, used to yell at his students. He died of consumption in a hotel in Paris. Tchaikovsky dedicated to him his Piano Trio in A minor.
[See the Nikolay Rubinstein Tradition]
Savshinsky, Samary
Russian (Saint Petersburg, July 6, 1891 — Saint Petersburg, October 19, 1968)
Samary Savshinsky was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Leonid Nikolaev and taught at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. His students included Lazar Berman, Vitaly Margulis and Arkady Aronov.
Shatskes, Abram Vladimirovich
(August 13, 1900 — February 2, 1961)
Abram Shatskes was a pianist. He was a pupil of Nikolay Medtner. Shatskes taught at the Moscow Conservatory where one of his students was Anna Kantor, the teacher of Eugeny Kissin and Nikolai Demidenko.
Shebanova, Tatiana
Russian (Moscow, January 12, 1953 — Warsaw, March 1, 2011)
Tatiana Shebanova was a pianist. She studied with Tatiana Kestner at the Central School in Moscow and with Victor Merzhanov at the Conservatory. She received the second prize at the 1980 Chopin Competition which launched her international career. She frequently appeared with her husband Jaroslaw Drzewiecki and their son Stanislaw Drzewiecki. Shebanova was the first performer of new works by Golubev and Bloch. She made over 50 recordings for RCA Victor, Melodiya, Muza, CBS/Sony and EMI, among others. She taught at the Bydgoszcz Academy of Music in Poland.
Siloti, Alexander
Ukrainian (Kharkiv, September 27 or October 9, 1863 — New York, December 8, 1945)
Gold Medal in 1881 at the Moscow Conservatory, his composition teachers included Taneyev and Tchaikovsky, for whom he worked as editor on the first and second piano concertos. His musical activities were broad and included the co-foundation of the Liszt-Verein in Leipzig, direction of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and the position of intendant at the Mariinsky Theatre. He also directed the renowned Siloti Concerts in St. Petersburg, at which he introduced such figures as Casals, Hofmann and Landowska and premiered works of Debussy, Rachmaninov and Scriabin, among many others. He published over 200 piano arrangements and transcriptions, made 8 piano roll recordings and wrote a book on reminiscences of Liszt in 1911.
[See the Alexander Siloti Tradition]
Sumbatyan, Anaida
Armenian (1905 — 1985)
Anaida Sumbatyan was a pianist and teacher. She taught at the Central Music School in Moscow where her students included Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Krainev, Nelly Akopian-Tamarina, Sergey Musaelyan and Oxana Yablonskaya.
Virsaladze [née Abdushelishvili], Anastasia
Georgian (Kutaisi, November 11, 1883 — Tbilisi, September 5, 1968)
Anastasia Virsaladze was a pianist and teacher. She studied with Anna Essipova at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. She taught at the Tbilisi Conservatory from 1921 to 1946 where she had over 100 pupils including Dmitri Bashkirov, Lev Vlassenko and her own granddaughter Eliso Virsaladze. She was likely the first Georgian pianist to perform in the United States.
Volodos, Arcadi
Russian (Leningrad [actual, February 24, 1972)
Arcadi Volodos is a pianist born to professional singers. He initially focused on singing and conducting. Subsequently, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Galina Eguiazarova, with Jacques Rouvier at the Paris Conservatoire and with Dmitry Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior Reina Sofía Madrid. Volodos has recorded works by Schubert, Mompou, Brahms and Liszt, and a cd of transcriptions and arrangements, among others.
Voskresensky, Mikhail
Russian (Berdiansk, Ukraine, June 25, 1935)
Mikhail Voskresensky is a pianist and teacher. He studied piano with Ilya Klyachko and Lev Oborin and the organ with Leonid Roysman at the Moscow Conservatory, where he also teaches. He is also a professor at the Toho Gakuen School in Tokyo. Voskresensky´s repertoire includes over 60 concertos, all the Beethoven sonatas and Chopin´s complete piano works. He has recorded about 50 cds.
Yablonskaya, Oxana
Russian (Moscow, December 6, 1938)
Oxana Yablonskaya is a pianist and teacher of Jewish descent. She studied with Anaida Sumbatyan at the Central School in Moscow and later with Alexander Goldenweiser, Dmitri Bashkirov and Tatiana Nikolayeva at the Moscow Conservatory, where she also taught. When she applied for a U.S. visa in 1975, she was immediately expelled from her teaching post at the Conservatory. She migrated to the United States in 1977, where she taught for over three decades at the Juilliard School in New York. Yablonskaya made records for Melodiya, Naxos, Bel Air and Pro Piano, among other labels. Her son is cellist Dmitry Yablonsky.
Zverev, Nikolai
Russian (Volokolamsk, March 25, 1833 — Moscow, October 12, 1893)
Nikolai Zverev was one of the most influential teachers in pre-Soviet Russia. He came from an aristocratic family and studied mathematics and physics at the Moscow State University. After inheriting a large sum of money, he abandoned his studies and moved to Saint Petersburg to become a civil servant. Subsequently, he returned to Moscow to teach at the Conservatory upon Nikolay Rubinstein´s invitation. Zverev taught many illustrious pianists including Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Siloti. He never married.
[See the Nikolai Zverev Tradition]
© 2022, by Daniel Pereira