Abbey Simon
Born(1920-01-08)January 8, 1920
New York City, U.S.
OriginCurtis Institute of Music
DiedDecember 18, 2019(2019-12-18) (aged 99)
Geneva, Switzerland
GenresClassical
Instrument(s)Piano
Years active1940–2019
Websitehttp://www.abbeysimon.com/

Abbey Henry Simon (January 8, 1920[1][2] – December 18, 2019) was an American concert pianist, teacher, and recording artist. He was a protégé of Josef Hofmann at the Curtis Institute of Music and a winner of the Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1940. He was called a "supervirtuoso" by The New York Times.

Education

Simon began lessons with David Saperton at the age of five. At the age of eight, Simon was accepted by Josef Hofmann as a scholarship student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where his classmates included Jorge Bolet and Sidney Foster. Simon also took lessons from Leopold Godowsky,[3] Dora Zaslavsky,[4] and Harold Bauer.[5] Shortly after graduation, he debuted at the Town Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City. He won the Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1940.

Career

Simon performed to critical acclaim. The critic Harold C. Schonberg of the New York Times[6] once hailed Simon as a "supervirtuoso". Boston Globe critic Richard Dyer wrote, "Simon's recital offered more than a glimpse into the fabled golden age of piano playing...His virtuosity is marked not only by speed, power, lightness and accuracy but also by intricate interplay of voices and lambent colors."[7]

Simon toured in Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific. He appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, and the Trenton Symphony Orchestra, among many others.

Simon gave master classes at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and the Geneva Conservatory. From 1960 to 1974, he was a faculty member at Indiana University,[8] where he taught alongside his Curtis classmates Bolet and Foster. He also served on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, Hunter College, the Moores School of Music in Houston, and the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. His students include pianists Josef Verba, Eliza Garth, Frederic Chiu, Karen Shaw, John Kamitsuka, Erika Nickrenz, Richard Dowling, Elyane Laussade, Adrienne Park, Roger Wright, Garnet Ungar, Hsia-Jung Chang, Shelly Berg, Andrew Cooperstock, Daniel Glover, David Korevaar, Nancy Weems, David Westfall, Terence Yung[9] and Martha Argerich.[10]

In addition to performing, teaching, and recording as a musical artist, Abbey Simon served as a jury member of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the Geneva International Music Competition, the Leeds International Piano Competition, the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition, the Sydney International Piano Competition, and the South Africa International Piano Competition.

Simon lived in Geneva, Switzerland. He maintained a home in Houston, Texas, where he was, from 1977 until his retirement in April 2019, Cullen Distinguished Professor of Music in the Moores School of Music in the University of Houston.

Simon died in Geneva on December 18, 2019, a few weeks prior to his 100th birth anniversary.[11]

Awards and honors

Discography

Abbey Simon recorded extensively on the VOX, Philips, and HMV labels. His discography includes the complete works of Frédéric Chopin and Maurice Ravel, major works of Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann, and all of the piano concerti of Sergei Rachmaninoff with Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

References

  1. ^ “Vera and Solomon[’s] . . . only child, born on January 8, 1920, was called Abbey Henry Simon.” From Inner Voices by Abbey Simon with Garnet Ungar, 2017 (ISBN 978-0692922408) p. 2.
  2. ^ “I’m now planning a series of concerts for my 100th birthday—January 8, 2020. . . .” Ibid., p. 154.
  3. ^ Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Seventh Edition, Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky, Schimer Books, New York, 1984
  4. ^ New York Times Archives. "Dora Zaslavsky Koch Dead; Pianist and Teacher was 82". New York Times.
  5. ^ Schonberg, Harold C. (February 26, 1988). "Abbey Simon: Evolution of a Pianist's pianist". New York Times.
  6. ^ Schonberg, Harold C. "Simon Shapes Pianistic Elements; The Program", The New York Times, May 4, 1978
  7. ^ Dyer, Richard "Simon's keyboard of many colors", "The Boston Globe", March 18, 1997
  8. ^ "Abbey Simon". Abbey Simon. Spotify.
  9. ^ "Terence Yung (Piano) - Short Biography". Bach Cantatas Website.
  10. ^ Minaldi, Donald Musician of the Year 2001 Martha Argerich, "Musical America", 2001
  11. ^ Fox, Margalit (December 21, 2019). "Abbey Simon, Masterly Pianist, Dies at 99" – via NYTimes.com.

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