Misha Dichter (born September 27, 1945) is an American pianist.

Biography

Misha Dichter was born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

parents who fled during WWII. He moved with his family to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, at the age of two and began studying piano at the age of five. He studied with Aube Tzerko, a pupil of

Artur Schnabel Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-American classical pianist, composer and pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th centur ...

, who established a concentrated practice regimen and intensive approach to musical analysis. Dichter also studied composition and analysis with

Leonard Stein Leonard David Stein (December 1, 1916 – June 24, 2004) was a musicologist, pianist, conductor, university teacher, and influential in promoting contemporary music on the American West Coast. He was for years Arnold Schoenberg's assistant, mus ...

, a disciple of

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

. He attended the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and studied with

Rosina Lhévinne Rosina Lhévinne (née Bessie; March 29, 1880 – November 9, 1976) was a Russian pianist and famed pedagogue born in Kyiv, Russian Empire. Early life, education and family Rosina Bessie was the younger of two daughters of Maria (née Katz) and ...

. While enrolled at the Juilliard School, Dichter won the Silver medal at the 1966

International Tchaikovsky Competition The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of ...

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 ...

, an accomplishment which helped launch his international musical career. Shortly after, he performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by

Erich Leinsdorf Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a ...

, nationally broadcast live on NBC and subsequently recorded for RCA. Dichter made his debut with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1968 performing the same concerto. Appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the principal London orchestras, and major American orchestras soon followed. Dichter has contributed articles to leading publications including the ''New York Times''. He has been seen frequently on national television, was the subject of an hour-long European television documentary, and was featured with his dog Thunder in the film ''My Dog: An Unconventional Love Story''. Dichter has needed to have multiple surgeries on his hands to allow him to continue playing, due to a condition called

Dupuytren's contracture Dupuytren's contracture (also called Dupuytren's disease, Morbus Dupuytren, Viking disease, palmar fibromatosis and Celtic hand) is a condition in which one or more fingers become progressively bent in a flexed position. It is named after Guilla ...

Recordings

Misha Dichter's acclaimed recordings for Philips, RCA, MusicMasters, and Koch Classics illustrate the scope of his musical interests. They include the Brahms piano concertos with

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Or ...

and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Brahms solo works including the Handel Variations, Beethoven piano sonatas, the complete

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

Hungarian Rhapsodies The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106 (french: Rhapsodies hongroises, german: Ungarische Rhapsodien, hu, Magyar rapszódiák), is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846–1853, and late ...

, the Liszt piano concertos with

André Previn André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...

and the Pittsburgh Symphony, and Gershwin's ''Rhapsody in Blue'' with Neville Marriner and the Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as music of Chopin, Mussorgsky, Schubert, Schumann, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. Many of Dichter's recordings have also been reissued; his recording of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata and Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 83 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur, and his recording of Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata and Brahms's First Piano Concerto, also with Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra were released on SACD by PENTOTONE. His recording of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies has been reissued on the Newton label.

Awards

Misha Dichter was honored in 1998 with the "Grand Prix International Du Disque Liszt" for his recording of Liszt's piano transcriptions released on the Phillips label. He was inducted as a National Patron of

Delta Omicron Delta Omicron () is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship. History Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity was founded on September 6, 1909 at ...

, an international professional music fraternity on April 13, 1999.

Cipa Glazman Dichter

At Juilliard, he met his future wife, Cipa Glazman. She was born in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

of Polish-

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n parents and had her first piano lessons at the age of six. She made her professional debut at 16 with the Symphony Orchestra of Brazil and came to the United States to study at Juilliard shortly thereafter. Together, Misha and Cipa Dichter are an accomplished piano duo. They have performed throughout North America, Europe, and at summer festivals in the U.S. such as Ravinia, Caramoor, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart, and the Aspen Music Festival. The Dichters have performed many previously neglected two-piano and piano-four-hand works. They recorded Mozart's complete piano works for four hands, which was released in a 3-CD set by Nimbus records. Official website of Mischa and Cipa Dichter
/ref> The Dichters live in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Notes

External links