Blumental, Felicja (1918—)

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Blumental, Felicja (1918—)

Polish pianist and champion of the music of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski. Born in Warsaw on December 28, 1918; studied at the Warsaw Conservatory.

Felicja Blumental studied at the Warsaw Conservatory, making her debut in 1938. After an adventurous escape from Nazi-occupied Poland in 1942, she launched a successful career in the 1940s in Brazil. The great Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos dedicated his Fifth Piano Concerto to her, and Blumental gave its world premiere in 1956 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. An enthusiastic believer in reviving old and little-known piano works, she made well-received recordings of a number of neglected concertos by Ries, Clementi and others. Felicja Blumental championed the music of the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski and recorded his Symphonie concertante, Op. 60. The modernist Polish composer Krysztof Penderecki composed his Partita for Harpsichord and Orchestra for her.

John Haag , Athens, Georgia