Elisabeth Leonskaja (born 23 November 1945) (In Russian: Елизавета Ильинична Леонская) is a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

and Austrian

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 ...

. She was born to a family of Jewish and Polish extraction living in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, then the capital of the

Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

. When Leonskaja was six and a half, her parents were able to buy her her first upright piano. At 7, she passed the entrance to one of Tbilisi's sixty music schools. At 11, she gave her orchestral debut with Beethoven's Piano Concerto in C Major (Op. 15), at 13 her first solo recital. At 14, she began an intense four-year period of study at the secondary school with a new piano teacher from Kiev, influenced by the Russian school of piano. In 1964, Elisabeth Leonskaja won the Enesco International Piano Competition in Bucharest. The judges included the composer and conductor

Aram Khachaturian Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; rus, Арам Ильич Хачатурян, , ɐˈram ɨˈlʲjitɕ xətɕɪtʊˈrʲan, Ru-Aram Ilyich Khachaturian.ogg; hy, Արամ Խաչատրյան, ''Aram Xačʿatryan''; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet and Armenia ...

and the pianist Arthur Rubinstein. In 1964, Leonskaja began studies in 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 ...

. During her conservatory years she won prizes in the Enescu, Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud and Queen Elizabeth international piano competitions in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. Leonskaja left the Soviet Union in 1978 and has since then resided in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. A notable recording of hers is of

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

's piano transcriptions of Mozart's piano sonatas K. 545 and K. 533/494, accompanied by

Sviatoslav Richter Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter, group= ( – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet classical pianist. He is frequently regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, Great Pianists of the 20th Century and has been praised for the "depth of his int ...

, with whom she built a close friendship and collaboration. She recorded many years for

Teldec Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group. History Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...

, now for German label MD and gives many Masterclasses.

Decorations and awards

Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian D ...

(2005) * Honorary citizen of

Deutschlandsberg Deutschlandsberg (; sl, Lonč) is a town in Deutschlandsberg (district), Deutschlandsberg district of Styria, Austria. It is located in southern Austria, near the border with Slovenia. It is approximately 35 km from Graz. Popular tourist att ...

(1999)

References

External links

Elisabeth Leonskaja.
Official site with official photos and biography
Q&A: Elisabeth Leonskaja
(4 December 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonskaja, Elisabeth 1945 births Living people Musicians from Tbilisi Classical pianists from Georgia (country) Women pianists from Georgia (country) Russian classical pianists Russian women pianists Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners Soviet classical pianists 20th-century classical pianists Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class Jewish classical pianists Russian women musicians 21st-century classical pianists 20th-century women pianists 21st-century women pianists