- Eugene Istomin
Eugene George Istomin (
November 26 ,1925 –October 10 ,2003 ) was an American pianist.Istomin was born in
New York City ofRussia n-Jew ish parents. He was famous for his work in thepiano trio , withIsaac Stern andLeonard Rose , known as the Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio, with whom he made many recordings, and particularly of music by Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert. He also played with them in orchestral music, with conductors such asEugene Ormandy ,Bruno Walter and also as a soloist.His earliest public performances were from age 6 with his mother, and at 12 he entered the Curtis Institute. He studied under
Rudolf Serkin and alsoMieczyslaw Horzowski .In 1943 he won the Leventritt award, and also the Philhadelphia Youth Award. He made his debuts with the
Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy, playing a concerto by Chopin, and theNew York Philharmonic conducted byArtur Rodziński playing Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 in the same week in 1943.He commissioned and premiered
Roger Sessions ' piano concerto in 1956. Several other composers, includingHenri Dutilleux andNed Rorem , wrote music for him.He won a
Grammy Award in 1970 with the trio, for their recordings of Beethoven.He recorded extensively for Columbia (later Sony Classical) solo works and chamber music.
He married Marta Montañez Martinez (Marta Casals Istomin), the widow of
Pablo Casals , onFebruary 15 ,1975 . She is a former president of the Manhattan School of Music and former artistic director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts inWashington, D.C. He moved to Washington in 1980.In the 1980s and 1990s he gave recital tours in which he toured 30 American cities with his own pianos and piano tuner.
He received the French
Legion d'Honneur in 2001.He died of liver cancer in 2003 at his home in Washington.
Awards and Recognitions
Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance :
*Eugene Istomin, Leonard Rose & Isaac Stern for "Beethoven: The Complete Piano Trios" (1971)External links
* [http://www.eugeneistomin.com/biography.htm#top Biography of Eugene Istomin]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10992-2003Oct10?language=printer Washington Post's obituary]
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