Newmark, John (real name, Hans Joseph Neumark)
Newmark, John (real name, Hans Joseph Neumark)
Newmark, John (real name, Hans Joseph Neumark), German-born Canadian pianist; b. Bremen, June 12, 1904; d. Montreal, Oct. 17, 1991. He studied piano with Karl Boerner in Bremen (1912–19) and Annie Eisele in Leipzig (1920–21). He began his career as an accompanist to Szymon Goldberg (1925); with August Wenzinger, he founded the Neue Kammermusik society in Bremen for the performance of modern music (1929); was director of music prognms for the Bremen Radio (1930–33). After going to London (1939), he was interned as an alien (1940), and sent to Canada; after his release, he studied harmony and conducting with Mazzoleni in Toronto (1942). Following World War II, he pursued a far-flung career as an accompanist, traveling all over the world with the most celebrated artists of the day. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1946, and in 1974 was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire