Willem Willeke

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Willem Willeke (born September 29, 1879 in The Hague , † November 26, 1950 in Pittsfield , Massachusetts, USA) was a Dutch-American cellist , pianist and music teacher .

Willeke began his career as a musical child prodigy and played Joseph Haydn's cello concerto and Robert Schumann's piano concerto in a concert as a child . At the age of fourteen he mastered all of Johannes Brahms' cello works and gave chamber music concerts with the composer at the piano.

Nevertheless, he first completed a medical degree in Bonn and Vienna, and only Joseph Joachim was able to convince him to return to music. He gave several successful concerts in Scandinavia and played the cello sonata with Edward Grieg . Concert tours through Europe and the USA followed, and Willeke performed his cello sonata with Richard Strauss . In addition, he held positions as principal cellist of the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic , for a time also of the orchestra of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and received the title of court cellist to Emperor Franz Joseph I.

Willeke came to the USA in 1907 as a member of the Kneisel String Quartet . After its dissolution in 1917, he founded the Elshuco Trio , named after the music patron Elizabeth Shurtleff Coolidge . When she founded the Berkshire Festival of Chamber Music in South Mountain in 1918 , she made him the music director of the festival. After his death in 1950, his widow Sally Willeke took over the management of the festival.

In New York, Willeke worked as a cello teacher at the Institute of Musical Arts , which became part of the Juilliard School in 1926 . The most important of his numerous students was Marie Roemaet-Rosanoff . His collection Thirty Solo Peaces for Violoncello With Piano Accompaniment , published in 1909, gained great popularity .

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personal data
SURNAME Willeke, Willem
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cellist, pianist and music educator
DATE OF BIRTH September 29, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH The hague
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 1950
Place of death Pittsfield , Massachusetts, USA