Hans Graf (pianist)

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Hans Graf 1958

Hans Graf (born March 16, 1928 in Vienna ; † January 9, 1994 there ) was an Austrian pianist and teacher .

Life

Hans Graf grew up as the son of the police lawyer Josef Graf (real Councilor, 1895–1966) and the former governess Rosa (birth name Kramreiter; 1885–1959) in Vienna. He received piano and violin lessons as a child. Graf was drafted into the air defense as a high school student in the final phase of the war and served in Langenzersdorf and Vienna VI. (Esterházypark) its service. In 1946 he passed his Matura and immediately afterwards began studying architecture at the Technical University; In addition, he became a trumpeter member of the "Technischen Tanz-Band" (TTB), the dance orchestra of the Technical University. In 1947 he took the piano entrance exam at what was then the Vienna Music Academy, today's University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna , and became a student of Bruno Seidlhofer.

As a result, Graf broke off his architecture studies in order to devote himself completely to music. In addition to taking piano lessons from Seidlhofer, he also took lessons from Alfred Uhl in counterpoint and composition. In 1949 he was able to take the first state examination and in 1950 he became a finalist at the Geneva International Music Competition . After he had also passed the final examination (diploma examination) in piano in 1951, he made his debut in the same year with a solo in the Vienna Konzerthaus . In the next few years he gave further concerts, in 1952 at the 4th edition of the Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth in Brussels , in 1953 at the very first edition of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich , and in 1954 at his second participation in the Geneva International Music Competition, where he this time the Second prize, and again in Brussels in 1956 at the Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth, where he was one of the finalists alongside Vladimir Ashkenazy , Lazar Berman , André Tchaikowsky , John Browning and Tamás Vasary .

In between he married (1953) his Brazilian student colleague, the pianist Carmen Vitis-Adnet. Together with her he moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1955, where the two daughters Maria Beatriz and Clarissa were born in 1955 and 1958. In 1957 he founded the Seminários de Música Pro-Arte do Rio de Janeiro together with Hans-Joachim Koellreutter and others. In 1958 he accepted Hans Sittner's invitation to return to Vienna, where he led a piano class at the Academy of Music until his retirement in 1991. From 1963 he taught frequently as a lecturer at similar institutions in Europe (Seville, Bilbao, Porto), South America and Japan. He also appeared as a juror at international piano competitions, for example at the Arthur Rubinstein Contest. He was involved in the Beethoven Competition in Vienna, initiated by Josef Dichler and Richard Hauser . Twice, in 1971/72 and 1974/75, he interrupted his teaching activities in Vienna to take on a visiting professorship at the Music School of Indiana University in Bloomington. After a heart operation, which he survived in 1985, he was forced to limit his own concert activities. In 1989, however, another recording was made, which was later released on CD, which contained an interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's " Art of Fugue " in the four-hand version of Seidlhofer's together with his daughter Clarissa Graf Costa.

Awards

literature

Individual evidence


personal data
SURNAME Count, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian pianist and piano teacher
DATE OF BIRTH March 16, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1994
Place of death Vienna , Austria