Stefan Askenase

Stefan Askenase (* July 10, 1896 in Lemberg, Galicia, † 18 October 1985 in Bonn ) was a Belgian- Polish pianist.

Life

After early piano lessons by his mother ( a student of Chopin 's pupil Karol Mikuli ) and by Theodor Pollak Stefan Askenase was 1914/15 student of Liszt 's pupil Emil von Sauer at the Vienna Conservatory, and later taught him Joseph Marx. From 1916 to 1918 he took part in the First World War, after which he led the Opera House of Lviv. In 1919 he made ​​his debut in Vienna in 1922, he accepted a professorship at the conservatory in Cairo. From 1925 he lived in Brussels and devoted himself to his 60 years lasting concerts worldwide. From 1937 to 1939 he taught at the Conservatory of Rotterdam, from 1957 to 1961 at the Brussels Conservatory. In 1966 he moved to Bonn.

Renowned for his interpretations of Chopin's works, he also had special reference to Bach, Mozart and Haydn. In the 1950s he recorded numerous works of Chopin for the German Grammophon Gesellschaft.

His students included, inter alia, Martha Argerich, László Gyimesi, John McKay, Sontraud Speidel, André Tchaikowsky and Mitsuko Uchida.