Iokeles, Alexander

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Iokeles, Alexander

Iokeles, Alexander, Russian pianist and teacher; b. Moscow, March 11, 1912; d. there, June 14, 1978. He was a student of Igumnov at the Moscow Cons. In 1934 he made his first appearance as a soloist with the Moscow Phil., and later played in a trio with Tsomik and Zatulovsky (1943-58). He taught at the Moscow Cons. (1931-42), the Tbilisi Cons. (1946-52), and the Gnesin Inst. in Moscow (from 1952), where he was head of its piano dept. (from 1964). Iokeles gave premiere performances of many works, including concertos by Dolukhanian, Gordeli, Makarov-Rakitin, and Taktakishvili, and also first Russian performances of many works by non-Russian composers.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire