Siki, Béla

views updated

Siki, Béla

Siki, Béla, distinguished Hungarian pianist and teacher; b. Budapest, Feb. 21, 1923. He studied with Dohnányi and Leo Weiner at the Budapest Academy of Music, and later took lessons with Lipatti in Geneva. In 1945 he made his debut in Budapest; in 1947 he won the Concours International d’Exécutions Musicales in Geneva; then made tours of Australia, Japan, South America, and the U.S. In 1965 he became a prof. of piano at the Univ. of Wash, in Seattle, and in 1980 at the Univ. of Cincinnati Coll.-Cons. of Music. He wrote Piano Repertoire: A Guide to Interpretation and Performance (N.Y., 1981). He became especially known for his authoritative performances of the works of Liszt and Bartók.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire