Menahem Pressler

Classical pianist and teacher Menahem Pressler was born Max Pressler in Magdeburg, then a province of Prussia, on December 16, 1923. In 1939, his family fled Nazi Germany – where many family members died in concentration camps - and lived in Italy before finally settling in Palestine. Studying the piano since childhood, he launched his career in 1945 when he won first prize at the Debussy International Piano Competition which was held in San Francisco, California. Moving to the US, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1947, where he performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy. He debuted as a chamber musician at the Berkshire Festival in 1955, where he played alongside violinist Daniel Guilet and cellist Bernard Greenhouse. The performance was a success and the three musicians continued to perform under the name the Beaux Arts Trio, a group that he led until 2008, although the lineup changed numerous times over the years. The Beaux Arts Trio recorded several albums over the years including Ravel / Fauré: Trio In A Minor / Trio In D Minor, Op. 120 (1957), Beethoven: The Complete Piano Trios Part 4 - No. 4 In B Flat, Op. 11 / No. 7 In B Flat, Op. 97 "Archduke" (1965), Dvořák: Piano Trio in Fm, Op. 65 (1969), and Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio In A Minor, Op. 50 (1971). Menahem Pressler also released numerous albums as a solo artist including Shostakovich: Concerto No. 1 for piano, trumpet and String Orchestra & Sonata for piano No. 2 (1954), The Modern Russians: Kabalevsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich (1960), Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor - Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor (2012), Brahms: Piano Quintet, Op. 34 - R. Schumann: String Quartet, Op. 41 No. 1 (2017), and Clair de Lune: Debussy - Fauré – Ravel (2018). During his long musical career, Menahem Pressler also taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. In celebration of his 90th birthday, he performed a concert at the Cité de la Musique in Paris, France and made his first appearance with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, which was broadcast around the world. Over the course of his career, he was honored with many honors and awards including the gold medal of the National Society of Arts and Letters in the United States, the Cross of Merit in Germany and the title of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. He also received the Victoire de la musique d'honneur from Gramophone magazine (2016), as well as nods from the International Classical Music Awards (2011) and the Echo Prize. Menahem Pressler died in London, England on May 6, 2023, at the age of 99.

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