Nadia Reisenberg Sherman (14 July 1904 – 10 June 1983) was an American

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 ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n birth.

Biography

Nadia Reisenberg was born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

to a Jewish family. Her parents were Aaron and Rachel Reisenberg., adapted from Dr. Anne K. Gray's ''The World of Women in Classical Music'' Her sister Anna (Newta) was born two years later, and Clara in 1911 who later took the married name of

Clara Rockmore Clara Reisenberg Rockmore (9 March 1911 – 10 May 1998) was a Lithuanian classical violin prodigy and a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument. She was the sister of pianist Nadia Reisenberg. Life and career Ea ...

and became renowned for her virtuosity on the

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

. The three sisters remained extremely close. When Nadia was six, her uncle Paul sent the family a piano, and Nadia immediately knew she would be at the keyboard for the rest of her life. Her talent demanded that the family move to St. Petersburg for study at the Conservatory, where the director, famed composer

Alexander Glazunov Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov; ger, Glasunow (, 10 August 1865 – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Russian Romantic period. He was director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 ...

, took a special interest in the gifted girl. She studied under Leonid Nikolayev at the

Saint Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...

. Due to the upheavals of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

, she and her family returned to Vilnius, then traveled to Warsaw and Germany. They finally settled in New York in 1922. Her son, Robert Sherman, teaches courses on "The Business of Music" at

Juilliard 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 elit ...

and previously wrote music criticism for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' for four decades.

Death

Reisenberg died in 1983 at the age of 78 in New York City.

Music career

Reisenberg gave concerts in the 1920s, particularly with her sister Clara Rockmore, but in 1930 went to study again and chose

Josef Hofmann Josef Casimir Hofmann (originally Józef Kazimierz Hofmann; January 20, 1876February 16, 1957) was a Polish-American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor. Biography Josef Hofmann was born in Podgórze (a district of Kraków), in A ...

as a tutor. Reisenberg's most important concert activity took place in the 1940s. She was especially praised for her series of concerts encompassing all the piano concertos by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

, played (with

Alfred Wallenstein Alfred Wallenstein (October 7, 1898 – February 8, 1983) was an American cellist and conductor. A successful solo and orchestral cellist in his early life, Wallenstein took up conducting in the 1930s and served as music director of the Los ...

conducting) for WOR, which was broadcast in the 1939/40 season. These concerts "made radio history".Nadia Reisenberg
by Harriet Feinberg, ''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia''. Reisenberg continued to perform until the end of her life, and appeared at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

a total of 22 times. While she usually appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, she gave two recitals at the venue: an all-

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

program on 13 November 1943, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the composer's death, and another of unknown repertoire on 21 November 1947. In later years, Reisenberg taught at 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 ...

and was a frequent juror for the

Leventritt Competition The Leventritt Competition was a highly prestigious international competition for classical pianists and violinists. It was founded in 1939 by the Edgar M. Leventritt Foundation Inc. of Cold Spring, New York, in memory of jurist Edgar M. Leventrit ...

Legacy

Reisenberg's sons co-authored a biography on their mother, ''Nadia Reisenberg: A Musician's Scrapbook'' (1985). Since 2002, the Nadia Reisenberg Recital Award sponsored by The Nadia Reisenberg & Clara Rockmore Foundation takes place every two years at the

Mannes School of Music Mannes School of Music is a music conservatory in The New School, a private research university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School cam ...

in New York City.About us"
nadiareisenberg-clararockmore.org; accessed February 11, 2018.

References

External links

Nadia Reisenberg Collection
at the International Piano Archives at Maryland
The Nadia Reisenberg & Clara Rockmore Foundation

by

Anthony Tommasini Anthony Carl Tommasini (born April 14, 1948) is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "a discerning critic, whose taste, knowledge and judgment have made him a must-read", Tommasini was the chief ...

, ''The New York Times'' (5 January 2009) * , Piano Sonata No. 52 {{DEFAULTSORT:Reisenberg, Nadia 1904 births 1983 deaths 20th-century classical pianists American classical pianists American women classical pianists American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Juilliard School faculty Lithuanian Jews Musicians from New York City Piano pedagogues Jewish classical pianists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists Educators from New York City American women educators Classical musicians from New York (state) Women music educators Lithuanian emigrants to the United States