Marks, Alan
Marks, Alan
Marks, Alan, talented American pianist; b. Chicago, May 14, 1949; d. Berlin, July 12, 1995. His family moved to St. Louis when he was a child; he studied piano with Shirley Parnas Adams. In 1965 he won a prize in Interlochen, and gave his first piano recital in St. Louis in 1966. In 1967 he went to N.Y., where he studied at the Juilliard School of Music with Irwin Freundlich (B.M., 1971); then with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Cons, of Music in Baltimore (1971–72). He took 2ndprize in the Univ. of Md. (1973) and Geza Anda (1979) competitions. In 1981 he settled in Berlin. He gave successful recitals in Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other cities. In 1976 he played the first performance of Caprichos for Piano by Carlos Chavez; also participated in numerous concerts of chamber music. He possessed an innate virtuoso technique, and was able to interpret with perfect stylistic fidelity piano works by classical as well as modern composers.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire