Gui Mombaerts

Gui Mombaerts ( Guillaume Mombaerts , born October 6, 1902 in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean , † June 10, 1993 in Evanstone ) was a Belgian pianist and music teacher.

Mombarts had piano lessons from the age of eight and studied at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels from 1912 to 1925 . He also took piano lessons from Arthur De Greef , a pupil of Franz Liszt . In 1926 he won the Prix ​​Gunther , in 1927 he was one of the finalists of the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. In the following years he performed as a soloist across Europe and was a member of the Belgian Piano-String Quartet .

In addition, Mombaerts devoted himself intensively to teaching. He taught at the Watermael-Boitsfort Music School (1923–1928) and was professor of piano and harmony at the Conservatory in La Louvière (1925–1940). He also worked as a professor of piano at the École Normale de Musique in Brussels (1925–1927), piano instructor at the music school in Molenbeek (1934–1940) and professor of piano at the Chapelle de la Reine Elisabeth de Belgique (1938– 1940).

After the occupation of Belgium by Germany, Mombaerts emigrated to the USA with the Belgian Piano-String Quartet, which was on a tour of Portugal. There he taught at Colorado College from 1941 to 1943 . After the war he toured the USA and Canada with violinist William Primrose and performed as a soloist with several symphony orchestras.

From 1945 to 1946 he taught at the Kansas State Teachers College in Pittsburg and was then until 1948 professor of piano and chamber music at the University of Kansas in Kansas City . From 1948 he taught at Northwestern University , from 1956 until his retirement in 1971 as professor and from 1957 as head of the piano department. Since 1959 he formed the Northwestern Trio here with Ángel Reyes and Dudley Powers .

Mombaert's students included Ralph Votapek , Kit Bridges , Stuart Leith , Jean M. Barr , Carol Honigberg , Joyce Finch Johnson , Marlene Hoirup , Toby Blumenthal , Mark Boozer , Kevin Oldham , James Douthit , Kathleen Mills , Margaret Hagedorn , Jan Meyer Thompson , Karen Kuschner , Thomas D. Walker , and Judith Willoughby .