List, Eugene

views updated

List, Eugene

List, Eugene, American pianist; b. Philadelphia, July 6,1918; d. N.Y., March 1,1985. He was taken to Los Angeles when a year old; studied there at the Sutro-Seyler Studios and made his debut with the Los Angeles Phil, at the age of 12; later studied in Philadelphia with Samaroff, and at the Juilliard Graduate School in N.Y. He played the solo part in the American premiere of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Philadelphia Orch. (Dec. 12, 1934). As a sergeant in the U.S. Army, he was called upon to play the piano at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, in the presence of Truman, Churchill, and Stalin. Subsequently he appeared as a soloist with many American orchs. and as a recitalist. In 1964 he was appointed a prof. of piano at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y; left there in 1975 and then joined the faculty of N.YU. His repertoire ranged from Mozart to contemporary composers. He championed the cause of Gottschalk, and in later years oversaw a series of “monster concerts” à la Gottschalk in which 10 or more pianos and various pianists were involved. In 1943 he married Carroll Glenn .

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire