David Vladimirovitch Ashkenazi (russian: Дави́д Влади́мирович Ашкена́зи; 25 December 191519 February 1997) was a Russian-Jewish

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

accompanist Accompaniment is the part (music), musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmony (music), harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

.Ashkenazy – Still Russian to the core

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

, 3 October 2008 (retrieved 23 October 2008) Ashkenazi was born on 25 December 1915 in

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

. He studied

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

at the local music college and at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

. He worked as an accompanist with a number of celebrated

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

pop singers, including Isabella Yuryeva,

Klavdiya Shulzhenko Klavdiya Ivanovna Shulzhenko (russian: Кла́вдия Ива́новна Шульже́нко, uk, Клавдія Іванівна Шульженко; – June 17, 1984) was a Soviet popular female singer and actress. Biography Shulzhenko ...

Lyudmila Zykina Lyudmila Georgievna Zykina (russian: link=no, Людми́ла Гео́ргиевна Зы́кина; 10 June 1929 – 1 July 2009) was a national folk singer of Russia. She was born in Moscow and joined the Pyatnitsky Choir in 1947. Her surna ...

Marina Gordon Marina Gordon (11 December 1917 – 13 December 2013) was a Belarusian-born American singer and coloratura soprano. She has been known as a performer of popular songs written to lyrics by contemporaneous authors in Yiddish, Russian, and Be ...

Vadim Kozin Vadim Alekseyevich Kozin (russian: Вадим Алексеевич Козин; March 21, 1903 – December 19, 1994) was a Russian tenor, songwriter, and an openly homosexual man until 1934 when male homosexuality became a crime in USSR. Vadim Al ...

Mark Bernes Mark Naumovich Bernes (russian: link=no, Ма́рк Нау́мович Берне́с) (,This date: – is a mistake found in the '' Great Soviet Encyclopaedia''. True date: – was engraved on the Bernes's gravestone at Novodevichy Cemeter ...

Iosif Kobzon Iosif (Joseph) Davydovich Kobzon (russian: link=no, Ио́сиф Давы́дович Кобзо́н; 11 September 1937 – 30 August 2018) was a Russian singer, known for his crooner style. Early life Kobzon was born to Jewish parents in the ...

and others. He was made People's Artist of Russia in 1996. In 1964 he and violinist Naum Latunsky performed in an episode of the film "The Garnet Bracelet", which was an adaptation of the celebrated novella of the same name by

Alexander Kuprin Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (russian: link=no, Александр Иванович Куприн; – 25 August 1938) was a Russian writer best known for his novels ''The Duel'' (1905)Kuprin scholar Nicholas Luker, in his biography ''A ...

. He set to music the

Yakov Polonsky Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (russian: Яков Петрович Полонский; ) was a leading Pushkinist poet who tried to uphold the waning traditions of Russian Romantic poetry during the heyday of realistic prose. Of noble birth, Polonsky ...

's poem titled "When in a separation presentiment", and his song was covered by many singers. David Ashkenazi was the father of the famous pianist and conductor

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He ...

. He died on 19 February 1997 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashkenazi, David 1915 births 1997 deaths Musicians from Nizhny Novgorod People from Nizhegorodsky Uyezd Russian Jews 20th-century classical pianists Jewish classical pianists Jewish composers Soviet pianists Soviet composers Soviet male composers Moscow Conservatory alumni Male classical pianists 20th-century Russian male musicians