Ralph Berkowitz (September 5, 1910 – August 2, 2011)Ralph Berkowitz's obituary
/ref> was an American composer, classical musician, and painter.

Biography

Berkowitz was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York to a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish couple, Matilda and William Berkowitz who had emigrated from

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

and

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 ...

. His father was instrumental in shaping young Ralph's musical culture and experience. In 1927, he enrolled at the Curtis Institute in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

where he later became a member of the teaching staff. In 1940, he became accompanist for

Gregor Piatigorsky Gregor Piatigorsky (, ''Grigoriy Pavlovich Pyatigorskiy''; August 6, 1976) was a Russian Empire-born American cellist. Biography Early life Gregor Piatigorsky was born in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipro, Ukraine) into a Jewish family. As a child, he ...

, with whom he appeared until the cellist's death in 1976. Other musical partners included the tenor

Jan Peerce Jan Peerce (born Yehoshua Pinkhes Perelmuth; June 3, 1904 December 15, 1984) was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway theatre, Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recordi ...

, cellist

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, and violinist and composer

George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei. Biogr ...

. He recorded extensively with Piatigorsky and others, including the violinist Eudice Shapiro. From 1946 to 1951, Berkowitz served as an executive assistant to Serge Koussevitzky at

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the ...

and later became Dean of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood in 1951, a position he held until 1961. As Dean, he presided over a faculty that included

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Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

, and many others. Illustrious students in those years included

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the foun ...

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...

and

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. He, along with Boston Symphony manager Todd Perry, was largely instrumental in keeping the Tanglewood Festival alive following Koussevitsky's death. Berkowitz has been widely published as an arranger and composer. His ''A Telephone Call'', for singer and orchestra is his most extended work. In 1961 Berkowitz moved to

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

, where he lived until his death in 2011. He first came to Albuquerque in 1940 to serve as a guest artist with a chamber music series called The June Music Festival. He remained active as an artist for the Festival into the 1980s. Berkowitz became manager of the then Albuquerque Civic Orchestra (now New Mexico Symphony Orchestra) when he moved to New Mexico and served until 1968, seeing the Orchestra through its move to its current home—Popejoy Hall at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

. Berkowitz commissioned

Daron Hagen Daron Aric Hagen ( ; born November 4, 1961) is an American composer, writer, and filmmaker. Biography Early life Daron Hagen was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up in New Berlin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Hagen was the youngest of t ...

to compose one of his most intellectually rigorous works, a set of Piano Variations based on a theme made up of pitches derived from Berkowitz's and Hagen's names, in 2002. The work is available from Carl Fischer. Berkowitz reached his centenary in September 2010 and died in August of the following year.

Discography

* "RCA Red Seal Century - Soloists & Conductors", 2 CD / RCA Records / 2001-10-23 * "Stravinsky: Petroushka Suite; Toch: Violin Sonata", 1 CD / Crystal Records / 1998-01-02 http://www.hbdirect.com/browse_classical.php?v performer&performer=B&do=specific_performer&specific_performer=Berkowitz%2C+Ralph

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkowitz, Ralph 1910 births 2011 deaths American classical pianists American male classical pianists American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Musicians from Brooklyn American centenarians 20th-century classical pianists Curtis Institute of Music alumni Curtis Institute of Music faculty Jewish American classical musicians 20th-century American pianists Classical musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male musicians Men centenarians 21st-century American Jews