Pierre Luboshutz | |
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Pierre Luboshutz (June 17, 1891 - April 17, 1971) was aRussian concertpianist.
Born inOdessa,Russia,[1][2] Luboshutz was initially taught to play theviolin by his father.[1][2] However, he then took up thepiano, and followed his older sistersLea Luboshutz (violin) andAnna Luboshutz (cello) to theMoscow Conservatory, where he studied underKonstantin Igumnov,[1] and from which he graduated in 1912 receiving a silver medal.[1][2][3] His first professional performance, at the Conservatory, was a performance ofBrahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, conducted bySerge Koussevitzky.[2] Luboshutz later traveled toParis to study underÉdouard Risler.[1]
Even before his graduation, Luboshutz had joined his two sisters in the eponymous Luboshutz Trio. The group enjoyed tremendous success until theRussian Revolution resulted in Lea's leaving the country. At its most active period (1913-1914), the group toured to fifty cities inRussia during a five-month period.[4] Luboshutz also regularly accompanied the American dancerIsadora Duncan when she toured the country[5] and was a regular pianist at a school she established inMoscow. As a much sought after accompanist, he toured theUnited States beginning in 1926 with violinistsEfrem Zimbalist andPaul Kochanski, cellistGregor Piatigorsky, and double bass virtuosoSerge Koussevitsky.
Luboshutz left theSoviet Union permanently in 1925, joining his sisterLea Luboshutz inParis (sisterAnna Luboshutz remained inRussia for her entire life), often serving as her accompanist. He also taught at theParis Conservatory where he met his future wife, pianist Genia Nemenoff. The two eventually married in theUnited States in 1931 (both had come for separate concert tours) and they decided to settle inNew York City in close proximity to sisterLea Luboshutz, now teaching at theCurtis Institute of Music inPhiladelphia.
On October 15, 1936, they debuted a two‐piano concert tour under the name Luboshutz-Nemenoff, with their first New York performance taking place atThe Town Hall on January 18, 1937.[2] The pair became "highly acclaimed as duo pianists",[2] and at different points in their career received excellent reviews from criticsHoward Taubman and Noel Straus.[2] They "toured widely in the Western hemisphere andEurope andSouth Africa," and performed at theTanglewood Music Festival with theBoston Symphony Orchestra, and atRobin Hood Dell with thePhiladelphia Orchestra.[2] In 1956, they were joined by Luboshutz's nephew by his sister Lea,Boris Goldovsky, for a five-week tour highlighting concertos byWolfgang Amadeus Mozart for one, two, and three pianos, as part of the bicentennial of Mozart's birth.[2][6] They reprised the collaboration two years later featuring keyboard music ofJ.S. Bach.
Lubozhutz & Nemenoff appeared in concert withArturo Toscanini and most of the leading conductors of the day. During their career, they premiered numerous works including a two-piano concerto byBohuslav Martinu, withEugene Ormandy and thePhiladelphia Orchestra on November 5, 1943.[7] Luboshutz transcribed many works for two pianos and commissioned others including a suite from the ballet "On Stage" byNorman Dello Joio.
The duo "began to curtail their performing career in the early 1960s",[6] accepting teaching positions at theNew England Conservatory of Music and in the piano department ofMichigan State University,[6] which they headed from 1962 to 1968.[1] The couple then returned to New York City, and lived between there andRockport, Maine.
Luboshutz died in Rockport, at the age of 76.[2] He was survived by his wife, who died in 1989.[6]
