Konstantin Nicolayevich Igumnov ' onMouseout='HidePop("5230")' href="/topics/Lebedyan">Lebedyan

Lebedyan

Lebedyan is a town and the administrative center of Lebedyansky District of Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, located on the upper Don River northwest of Lipetsk. It is the location of the largest fruit juice manufacturer in Eastern Europe, Lebedyansky. Population: Lebedyan was founded in 1613 largely to...

 – March 24, 1948) was a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n virtuoso pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and the teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

 of many famous Russian pianists.

Igumnov studied under Nikolai Zverev

Nikolai Zverev

Nikolai Sergeyevich Zverev was a Russian pianist and teacher known for his pupils Alexander Siloti, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin, Konstantin Igumnov, Alexander Goldenweiser, and others.- Life :...

, and at Moscow Conservatory

Moscow Conservatory

The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...

 under Alexander Siloti

Alexander Siloti

Alexander Ilyich Siloti was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, , Aleksandr Iljič Ziloti) (9 October 1863, near Kharkiv - 8 December 1945, New York) was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, , Aleksandr Iljič...

 and Pavel Pabst

Pavel Pabst

Paul Pabst Russ: Pavel was a pianist, composer, and Professor of Piano at Moscow Conservatory.-Life and career:...

. He took theory and composition courses from Sergei Taneyev

Sergei Taneyev

Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev , was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and author.-Life:...

, Anton Arensky

Anton Arensky

Anton Stepanovich Arensky -Biography:Arensky was born in Novgorod, Russia. He was musically precocious and had composed a number of songs and piano pieces by the age of nine...

 and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov

Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov

Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov was a Russian composer, conductor and teacher.- Biography :...

. In 1898-9 he was pianoforte teacher at the Tiflis music-school of the Russian Music Society. From 1899 he was Professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where his life's work was carried out.

Among his many students were Bolesław Kon, Naum Shtarkman

Naum Shtarkman

Naum Lvovich Shtarkman was a Soviet and Russian classical pianist.He was a disciple of Konstantin Igumnov at the Moscow Conservatory. Shtarkman was awarded a 5th prize at the V Fryderyk Chopin Competition and, most notably, attained the Bronze Medal at the inaugural edition of the Tchaikovsky...

, Elena Beckman-Scherbina, Yakov Flier

Yakov Flier

Yakov Vladimirovich Flier was a Russian concert pianist and teacher.Flier was born in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Russia. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Konstantin Igumnov. By the 1930s he had become one of the most prominent Russian concert pianists...

, Lev Oborin

Lev Oborin

Lev Nikolayevich Oborin was a Russian pianist. He was the winner of the first International Chopin Piano Competition in 1927.The family moved a lot during his early childhood. When they settled down in Moscow in 1914, he was sent to music school. He studied with Yelena Gnessin, a pupil of...

, Maria Grinberg

Maria Grinberg

Maria Grinberg , was a Ukrainian pianist and teacher....

, Andrzej Wasowski

Andrzej Wasowski

Andrzej Wasowski was a Polish classical pianist.-Life:Born in Lwow of an aristocratic family . His father's family owned estates in Podolia and sugar refineries and mining interests in Silesia...

, Ryszard Bakst

Ryszard Bakst

Ryszard Bakst was a Polish and British pianist and piano teacher of Jewish/Polish/Russian origin.Bakst was a descendant of the Russian artist Leon Bakst...

, Anatoly Nikolayevich Alexandrov

Anatoly Nikolayevich Alexandrov

Anatoly Nikolayevich Alexandrov was a Russian composer of works for piano and for other instruments, and pianist. His initial works had a mystical element, but he downplayed this to better fit Socialist realism. He led a somewhat retiring life, but received several honors.Alexandrov was the son...

, Natalia Satina (wife of Rachmaninoff), Aleksandr Iokheles, Bella Davidovich

Bella Davidovich

Bella Mikhaylovna Davidovich is a Jewish Soviet-born American pianist.Davidovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, into a family of musicians and began studying piano when she was six. Three years later, she was the soloist for a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1. In 1939, she moved to...

, and the conductor Issay Dobrowen

Issay Dobrowen

Issay Alexandrovich Dobrowen was a Russian-Norwegian pianist, composer and conductor.He was born Itschok Zorachovitch Barabeitchik in Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire of Jewish parents. He left the Soviet Union in 1922, and became a Norwegian citizen in 1929.He once played Beethoven's Sonata...

.

A four-record (LP) set of Igumnov's recordings was issued by Melodiya

Melodiya

Melodiya is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company/label of the Soviet Union.-History:It was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya"...

 on 33C 10-05519-26.

Honours and awards

• Order of Lenin
  Order of Lenin
  The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
  
  
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour
  Order of the Red Banner of Labour
  The Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
  
  
• People's Artist of USSR, 1946
• Stalin Prize, 1946

Source

• A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
• J. Methuen-Campbell, Chopin Playing from the Composer to the Present Day (Gollancz, London 1981).