Lev Vlassenko

Lev Nikolayevich Vlasenko (Russian Лев Николаевич Власенко; born December 24, 1928 in Tbilisi, † August 24 1996 in Brisbane ) was a Russian pianist and piano teacher.

Life

Vlasenko came from a noble family, his grandfather was an artillery general of the Russian army who was wounded in World War I and 1917 disappeared without a trace. Wlassenkos father had a certain musicality and also sang in the church choir of military school, where he had been trained. Wlassenkos mother, born Benditzki, came from a poor family. She was born into a family of poor Jewish musicians. In the mother's family, there was a unique dedication to the music. Of the five siblings of the mother Wlassenkos were four musicians.

First Wlassenkos teacher was his mother. She was a talented pianist, but her studies were interrupted by her marriage and the birth of her son, and she devoted herself exclusively since the education of his son. Later, he was accepted into the class of the famous piano teacher Anastasia Virsaladze, a student of Jesipowa, wife of Leschetitzki, the students like her granddaughter Elisso Virsaladze and Dmitri Bashkirov has produced. At age ten, he played his first concert, the first concert of Beethoven; Conductor was Odissey Dimitriadi. In Moscow Vlasenko studied with Yakov Flier.

His piano career began with the victory at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Budapest in 1956, moreover he was, together with the Chinese pianist Liu Shi -kun, runner-up behind Van Cliburn at the first international Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

From a young age Vlasenko began to teach, first at the Gnessin Institute and from 1957 at the Moscow Conservatory, at first. Than an assistant to his own teacher, Yakov Flier, and later as a professor His assistant was later Mikhail Pletnev, who had also studied with Flier and also at Vlasenko. Among his pupils were next Pletnev Boris Petrov, Natalia Vlasenko, Alexaner Strukow, Victor Chestopal, Kalle Randalu and Lew Vinocour.

Vlasenko died in 1996 in Australia and was buried at the Moscow Wagankowoer cemetery. Since 1999, his piano competition Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition will be held in honor of every two years.