Labunski, Wiktor

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Labunski, Wiktor

Labunski, Wiktor, Polish-born American pianist, teacher, and composer, brother of Felix Labunski; b. St. Petersburg, April 14, 1895; d. Kansas City, Mo., Jan. 26, 1974. He was a student at the St. Petersburg Cons, of Nikolayev (piano) and Kalafati and Wihtol (composition). After further training with F. Blumenfeld and Safonov (piano), he studied conducting in Poland with Mlynarski. He was head of the piano dept. at the Krakόw Cons. (1919–28). In 1928 he made his Carnegie Hall debut in N.Y. After teaching at the Nashville (Tenn.) Cons. (1928–31), he was a prof, and director of the Memphis (Tenn.) Coll. of Music (1931–37). He became a teacher at the Kansas City (Mo.) Cons, in 1937, serving as its director from 1941 to 1971. His compositions followed along traditional lines.

Works

Piano Concertino (1932); Sym. (1936); Piano Concerto (1937); Variations for Piano and Orch. (1945); Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orch. (1951); many piano pieces;songs.

Bibliography

J. Belanger, W. L.: Polish-American Musician in Kansas City, 1937-1974 (diss., Columbia Univ., 1982).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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