André Dumortier (1 October 1910, in Comines,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

– 3 September 2004, in

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

) was a Belgian

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

. He participated in the Concours

Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Early years Born in Liège, Ysaÿe began ...

(future

Queen Elisabeth Music Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition (, ) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in City of Brussels, Brussels. The competition is named after Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (1876–1 ...

) in 1938, and it has been said that he is firmly entrenched in the public memory of

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he became a professor at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles in

, and later the director of the Conservatoire de Tournai. At the same time, he pursued a career as a soloist and chamber musician of international renown. Belgian composer

Jean Absil Jean Absil (23 October 1893 – 2 February 1974) was a Belgium, Belgian composer, organist, and professor at the Brussels Conservatory, Brussels Conservatoire. Biography Absil was born in Bonsecours, Hainaut (province), Hainaut, Belgium. His teac ...

's "Grande Suite, Op. 62" is dedicated to Dumortier. Dumortier was active even in his retirement, launching master classes in Tournai in 1988, during the course of which young pianists from various countries came together each year. He also completed several recordings. Perhaps his greatest legacy remains that of a teaching placed under the signs of "my beauty" and "the essential."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumortier, Andre 1910 births 2004 deaths People from Comines-Warneton Academic staff of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels 20th-century Belgian classical pianists