Verda Erman with Yamaha grand piano 20140801

Verda Erman (19 December 1944 – 21 July 2014) was a Turkish

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 ...

. Born in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

in 1944, she began her career at the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory. In 1957, she was sent to study at the Conservatoire de Paris under Turkish law no. 6660 for students with "extraordinary talents." She studied under French pianist

Lucette Descaves Lucette Descaves (1 April 1906 – 15 April 1993) was a French pianist and teacher, whose pupils included Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Geneviève Joy, Brigitte Engerer, Pascal Rogé, and Katia and Marielle Labèque. Biography Born in Paris, daught ...

and graduated from the conservatory with the highest honors. Erman then worked with pianist

Lazare Lévy Lazare Lévy Lazare Lévy, also hyphenated as Lazare-Lévy, (18 January 188220 September 1964) was an influential French pianist, organist, composer and pedagogue. As a virtuoso pianist he toured throughout Europe, in North Africa, Israel, the So ...

to improve her skills on the piano. She also enrolled in lessons on

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

and harmony from French composer,

Noël Gallon Noël Jean-Charles André Gallon (11 September 1891 – 26 December 1966) was a French composer and music educator. His compositional output includes several choral works and vocal art songs, 10 preludes, a ''Toccata'' for piano, a ''Sonata ...

. She gave a series of concerts in Paris before returning to Turkey. Erman performed with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Turkey. She won first prize in the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition (now called the

Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition The Long–Thibaud–Crespin Competition is an international classical music competition for pianists, violinists and singers that has been held in France since 1943. (A Jacques Thibaud Competition was held the year before in Bordeaux: Jacques ...

) in Paris in October 1963. In 1965, Erman placed second in the Canada International Piano Competition. Verda Erman was honored as a State Artist in 1971, the year the honorary title was created. She toured extensively around the world as a guest musician after 1971. She enjoyed successful tenures in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 m ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

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 ...

. Pianist

Rudolf Serkin Rudolf Serkin (28 March 1903 – 8 May 1991) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century. Early life, childhood debut, and education Serkin was born in t ...

invited her to the

Marlboro Music School and Festival The Marlboro Music School and Festival is a retreat for advanced classical training and musicianship held for seven weeks each summer in Marlboro, Vermont, in the United States. Public performances are held each weekend while the school is in sess ...

in the U.S. state of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the n ...

. She continued to perform with the Turkish Presidential Symphony Orchestra as a vocal artist on the orchestra's European tours. Erman died in

on 21 July 2014, possibly of leukemia, at the age of 70.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erman, Verda 1944 births 2014 deaths Turkish classical pianists Turkish women pianists Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners State Artists of Turkey Conservatoire de Paris alumni Musicians from Istanbul 20th-century classical pianists Deaths from cancer in France Deaths from leukemia Women classical pianists 20th-century women pianists