Simon, Abbey

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Simon, Abbey

Simon, Abbey, distinguished American pianist and teacher; b. N.Y, Jan. 8, 1922. He studied with Saperton and Hofmann at the Curtis Inst. of Music in Philadelphia (1932–1), and also took lessons with Godowsky in N.Y. In 1941 he won the Naumberg Award and then launched a major career, appearing as a soloist with the leading U.S. orchs.; made his first tour of Europe in 1949, and subsequently traveled all over the world. He taught at the Ind. Univ. School of Music in Bloomington (1960–74), the Juilliard School in N.Y. (from 1977), and the Univ. of Houston (from 1977). A master of the repertory from Beethoven to Rachmaninoff, he evolved a grand bravura style of pianistic virtuosity in which no technical difficulties seem to exist, no tempi are too fast, no nuance is too subtle.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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