Babin, Victor
Babin, Victor
Babin, Victor, Russian-born American pianist, teacher, and composer; b. Moscow, Dec. 13, 1908; d. Cleveland, March 1, 1972. He studied at the Riga Cons, (graduated, 1927) and with Schnabel (piano) and Schreker (composition) at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. In 1933 he married Vitya Vronsky, with whom he toured extensively as a duo pianist. In 1937 they emigrated to the U.S. and Babin became a naturalized American citizen in 1944. He continued to tour widely with his wife from 1945, and also served as pianist of the Festival Quartet (1954–62). He taught at the Aspen (Colo.) Music School, where he was its director (1951–54), at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, at the Cleveland Inst. of Music, where he was its director (1961–72), and at Case Western Reserve Univ. His output, in a post-Romantic style, includes two concertos for two Pianos and Orch., orch. pieces, chamber music, songs, and pieces for Piano and Duo Piano.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire