Sigismond Stojowski

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Sigismond Stojowski

Sigismond Stojowski ( Zygmunt Stojowski ; * March 27th July / April 8th  1870 greg. In Strzelce near Kielce ; other possible dates of birth are May 2nd or 14th of the years 1863, 1869, 1871 or 1876; † November 5, 1946 in New York ) was a Polish pianist and composer .

Stojowski was a student of Władysław Żeleński (1837–1921) in Kraków . In 1887 he went to Paris , where he studied at the Conservatoire with Louis Diémer , Léo Delibes and Théodore Dubois . He also studied philosophy, history and literature at the Sorbonne . From 1891 he took piano lessons with Ignatz Paderewski .

Stojowski's international career as a composer and pianist began with a concert in the Salle Erard in Paris in 1891, where he performed his first piano concerto under Benjamin Godard . In the following years he appeared with the most important orchestras in Germany and England, where his works were also performed with great success. His D minor symphony won first prize at the international Paderewski competition in Leipzig in 1898 , and Fantazja Polska won second prize at the Maurycy Zamoyski competition. Both Brahms and Tchaikovsky expressed their appreciation for his compositions.

At the end of 1905 he moved to the USA , where he also made a name for himself as a pianist in a very short time. As early as 1906 he performed Saint-Saëns 4th Piano Concerto with the New York Symphony Orchestra under Frank Damrosch in Carnegie Hall . In addition to his extensive concert activities, Stojowski was always active as a teacher: until 1911 at the Institute of Musical Art (which later became the Juilliard School of Music ), then until 1918 at the Von Ende School of Music . In addition, he gave summer courses and master classes in numerous cities in the USA, but also in Canada and South America, and since 1940 at the Juilliard School. His best-known students were Aleksander Brachocki , Antonia Brico , Phyllida Ashley , Oscar Levant , Mischa Levitzki , Arthur Loesser , Alfred Newman , Guiomar Novaes , Harriet Ware and Luisa Mathilde Moralès-Macedo .

Stojowski composed a symphony , a violin concerto and two piano concertos, a Rhapsodie symphonique for piano and orchestra, a concert piece for cello and orchestra, two cantatas , numerous piano pieces, chamber music works and songs .

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