Artur Balsam

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Artur Balsam (born February 8, 1906 in Warsaw , † September 1, 1994 in New York City ) was an American pianist and music teacher of Polish origin.

Balsam attended the Łodź Conservatory and made his concert debut in 1918. He continued his studies at the Berlin Music Academy with Artur Schnabel , won the Berlin International Piano Competition in 1930 and received the Mendelssohn Prize in 1931 . In 1932 he toured the United States with fourteen-year-old Yehudi Menuhin . In the following year he married the pianist Ruth Miller .

After the National Socialists came to power in Germany, Balsam emigrated to the USA. There he made a name for himself primarily as a chamber musician in collaboration with Szymon Goldberg , Erica Morini , Joseph Fuchs , Joseph Szigeti , David Oistrach , Leonid Kogan , Mstislav Rostropovich , Zino Francescatti and others. In the late 1930s he went on concert tours with the violinist Nathan Milstein . In the 1950s he appeared as a soloist with internationally renowned orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra . On Mozart's 200th birthday in 1956, he played six of his piano concertos. He has also performed with the Juilliard String Quartet and the Budapest String Quartet and played a series of eighty-six great sonatas for violin and piano with Joseph Fuchs on television. In the 1960s he was the pianist of the Albeneri Trio (with William Kroll and Benar Heifetz ). He made his last appearance in 1993 at the age of 87 at the Carnegie Recital Hall .

Balsam recorded around 250 musical works. These include all of Joseph Haydn's solo works (on 16 LPs), the piano sonatas by Johann Nepomuk Hummel , thirteen early piano concertos by Mozart and his complete violin sonatas (with Oscar Shumsky ), all of Beethoven's violin sonatas (with Joseph Fuchs), all of Beethoven's cello sonatas (with Zara Nelsova ) , a collection of 12 LPs with solo piano works by Mozart and Haydn, but also compositions by Virgil Thomson , Walter Piston , Ottorino Respighi and Darius Milhaud and the concerto for piano, violin and string quartet by Ernest Chausson .

In the 1960s, Balsam taught at the Eastman School of Music , the Manhattan School of Music , the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and Boston University . From 1959 to 1992 he directed the chamber music summer school at Kneisel Hall in Green Hill. As a musician and teacher, he participated in the festivals of Aldeburgh, Banff, Music Mountain and Orono, where pianists such as Murray Perahia and Emanuel Ax benefited from his lessons.

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personal data
SURNAME Balm, Artur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pianist and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH September 1, 1994
Place of death New York City