Stanislaw Szpinalski

Stanislaw Szpinalski

Leopold Stanisław Szpinalski (born November 15, 1901 in Jekaterinodar , Russian Empire , † June 12, 1957 in Paris , France ) was a Polish pianist and music teacher.

Life

After his first lessons from his father, Szpinalski attended the music school in Rostov-on-Don . From 1912 to 1918 he studied piano with Karl Kipp at the Moscow Conservatory . He continued his training with Józef Turczyński (1884–1953) at the Warsaw Conservatory, where he passed the diploma examination with distinction in 1924. From 1925–1926 he studied piano with Ricardo Viñes and composition with Louis Aubert in Paris .

At the end of 1925 he made his debut as a concert pianist in the Salle Pleyel . In 1927 he received second prize at the first International Chopin Competition . Over the next few years he worked with Ignacy Jan Paderewski in Switzerland . From 1932 until the beginning of the Second World War he performed as a concert pianist in Poland, Switzerland, England, Belgium, Holland, France, Spain, Germany, the USA and Canada. In 1939 he performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Artur Rodziński in Karol Szymanowski's Symphony Concertante .

From 1934 Szpinalski lived in Vilnius , where he worked as a professor of piano and director of the conservatory. In 1951 he became rector of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where he took over a piano class. His students included u. a. Andrzej Czajkowski , Jerzy Godziszewski , Jerzy Jasienski , Andrzej Stefanski , Zbigniew Szymonowicz and Maria Zubelewicz . His career as a pianist, which had been interrupted by the war, continued in 1949 with a series of concerts on the 100th anniversary of Chopin's death in Poland and England. A rheumatic disease made it impossible for him to perform as a pianist for several years. In 1955 he returned to the concert stage with a concert at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw and gave concerts a.o. until his death. a. in England and Germany.

Web links

• Stanisław Szpinalski Kultura polska (Polish)
• Stanisław Szpinalski Fryderyk Chopin Information Center (Polish)