Kentner, Louis (actually, Lajos Philip)
Kentner, Louis (actually, Lajos Philip)
Kentner, Louis (actually, Lajos Philip), admired Hungarian-born English pianist; b. Karwin, July 19, 1905; d. London, Sept. 22, 1987. He studied piano with Székely and Weiner and composition with Koessler and Kodâly at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. He made his formal debut in Budapest in 1920, then toured throughout Europe. In 1935 he settled in England, becoming a naturalized British subject in 1946. On Nov. 28, 1956, he made his U.S. debut in N.Y. In 1978 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1931 he married Ilona Kabos; they divorced in 1945. He was praised for his interpretations of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, and Liszt, as well as those by Bartók and various contemporary English composers.
Bibliography
H. Taylor, ed., K: A Symposium (N.Y., 1987).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire