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, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in Seattle; between 1980 and 1985 he taught at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

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

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, Geneva, and Bolzano. His students included

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Anton Nel Anton Nel (born December 29, 1961) is a South African classical pianist. Biography Nel was born to Afrikaans-speaking parents in Johannesburg, South Africa. Nel made his debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven's C Major Concerto after only two ...

and

David Bollard David Bollard (born 25 September 1942) is a New Zealand-born 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 Katc ...

. Siki died on 29 October 2020 in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

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