Béla Síki (21 February 1923 – 29 October 2020) was a Hungarian pianist.

Career

He was born in Hungary, where he was a student in

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and Ernest von Dohnányi at the Franz Liszt Music Academy. He moved to Switzerland in 1945, where he studied with

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and won the 1948 Geneva Competition. His international solo career led him to perform on all five continents with distinguished conductors and orchestras. In 1965, he moved to the United States, teaching at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in Seattle; between 1980 and 1985 he taught at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

College-Conservatory of Music, moving back to Seattle in 1985, where he taught until his retirement in 2001. He made several recordings. He was also a teacher and often asked to be on the jury of international musical competitions such as

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, Geneva, and Bolzano. His students included

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, Anton Nel and

David Bollard David Bollard (born 1942) is an Australian classical pianist and teacher. Career David Bollard studied with Béla Síki in 1962, then moved to London in 1964, studying with Ilona Kabos, Louis Kentner and Julius Katchen. After a successful Wig ...

. Siki died on 29 October 2020 in

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, aged 97.

Partial publication list

* Siki, Bela. ''Piano Repertoire: A Guide to Interpretation and Performance''. Shirmer Books, 1981. . * Frank Dawes, "Béla Síki", in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.

References

Hungarian classical pianists Hungarian male musicians Hungarian male classical pianists 1923 births 2020 deaths Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni Hungarian music educators Piano educators University of Washington faculty University of Cincinnati faculty Hungarian emigrants to the United States {{classical-pianist-stub