Nelly Akopian-Tamarina
Encyclopedia
Nelly Akopian-Tamarina is a Russian
pianist. Born in Moscow
, she studied with Anaida Sumbatyan
at the Moscow Central Music School. Later at the Moscow Conservatoire she was the last student of the legendary Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser
- associate and friend of Alexander Scriabin
, Sergei Rachmaninov and Nikolai Medtner
- and the first student of Dmitri Bashkirov. Through her teachers she carries on this illustrious branch of the old Russian piano tradition, reaching back to Franz Liszt
, Alexander Siloti
, Felix Blumenfeld
, and Anton Rubinstein
.
As a student Akopian-Tamarina won the Gold Medal at the 1963 Robert Schumann International Competition for Pianists and Singers
in Zwickau
, and in 1974, succeeding Richter
, Nikolayeva and Gilels, was awarded the Robert Schumann Prize. A former Soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonie, she appeared as a recitalist and with all the leading orchestras of the former U.S.S.R. and Eastern Bloc.
Her recordings for Melodiya - including Chopin's Preludes op.28, and the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra - are now collectors' items. During the 1970s, however, her career was blocked by official censorship, preventing her from giving public concerts for more than a decade. In the isolation of these years, she turned to painting for artistic self-expression, her watercolours being selected for exhibition in Moscow.
Akopian-Tamarina made her London debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
in March 1983 (a programme of Schumann and Chopin) followed by engagements around the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe including Amsterdam's Concertgebouw
.
In the 1990s she gave a series of masterclasses in Prague
at the Palfi Palace as Artistic Consultant to the Prague Conservatory
. She also gave masterclasses at the Royal Academy of Music
and Royal College of Music
in London. In 1997, to commemorate the centenary of Brahms's death, she embarked on a recording cycle of the composer's works for Conifer/BMG and appeared to outstanding critical acclaim at the Dvorak Hall of the Prague Rudolfinum to open both the international piano series of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, and the chamber season of the Czech Philharmonic.
In October 2002, following an absence of twenty-five years, she went back to Russia to play at the Bolshoi Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. During the 2006-2007 season, engagements included the Schumann Piano Concerto, which she had not played for over two decades, with the Ukraine State Philharmonic in Kiev, marking the 150th anniversary of the composer's death.
In January 2008 she returned to the London concert stage with a critically admired all-Brahms programme (Opp 10, 76, 117) in the Wigmore Hall
. Reporting the occasion in International Piano (July/August 2008, p 7), Ates Orga noted her 'luminous fortissimi, ice-edged chords, fine pianissimos, deliberated textures, intricate pedalling, and expansive, singing melodies. Following Neuhaus, she is a strong believer in allegory as a passport to other worlds and states of mind. Phrasing, pausing, breathing, silence, the language of meaning, feeling and communication, is her universe. She takes listeners back to a distant, lost past.' Another recital, of music by Schubert, Janácek and Chopin, followed in the same venue on March 23, 2009. Making her own contribution to the Schumann bicentenary, she gave a recital devoted to the composer's music in the Wigmore Hall on December 9, 2010.
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
pianist. Born in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, she studied with Anaida Sumbatyan
Anaida Sumbatyan
Anaida Stepanovna Sumbatyan was an Armenian pianist.She taught at the Central Special Music School in Moscow. Among her pupils were Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Krainev, Nelly Akopian-Tamarina and Oxana Yablonskaya.-References:-Notes:...
at the Moscow Central Music School. Later at the Moscow Conservatoire she was the last student of the legendary Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser
Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser
Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser was a Russian pianist, teacher, composer and public figure.Goldenweiser was born in Kishinev, Bessarabia and studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Sergei Taneyev and Vassily Safonoff, winning the Gold Medal for Piano upon his graduation in 1897...
- associate and friend of Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
, Sergei Rachmaninov and Nikolai Medtner
Nikolai Medtner
Nikolai Karlovich Medtner was a Russian composer and pianist.A younger contemporary of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, he wrote a substantial number of compositions, all of which include the piano...
- and the first student of Dmitri Bashkirov. Through her teachers she carries on this illustrious branch of the old Russian piano tradition, reaching back to Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
, 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...
, Felix Blumenfeld
Felix Blumenfeld
Felix Mikhailovich Blumenfeld was a Russian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher.He was born in Kovalevka, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire , the son of Austrian Mikhail Frantsevich Blumenfeld and the Polish Marie Szymanowska, and studied composition at the St...
, and Anton Rubinstein
Anton Rubinstein
Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...
.
As a student Akopian-Tamarina won the Gold Medal at the 1963 Robert Schumann International Competition for Pianists and Singers
Robert Schumann International Competition for Pianists and Singers
The Robert Schumann International Competition for Pianists and Singers was constituted in 1956 in East Berlin within the framework of the commemorations on the 100th anniversary of Robert Schumann's death. A second edition was organized on the occasion of the composer's 150th anniversary, and three...
in Zwickau
Zwickau
Zwickau in Germany, former seat of the government of the south-western region of the Free State of Saxony, belongs to an industrial and economical core region. Nowadays it is the capital city of the district of Zwickau...
, and in 1974, succeeding Richter
Richter
Richter can refer to:* the Richter magnitude scale, a scale measuring the strength of earthquakes.* Richter , an electro-rock band from Buenos Aires, Argentina.-Richter as a surname:...
, Nikolayeva and Gilels, was awarded the Robert Schumann Prize. A former Soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonie, she appeared as a recitalist and with all the leading orchestras of the former U.S.S.R. and Eastern Bloc.
Her recordings for Melodiya - including Chopin's Preludes op.28, and the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra - are now collectors' items. During the 1970s, however, her career was blocked by official censorship, preventing her from giving public concerts for more than a decade. In the isolation of these years, she turned to painting for artistic self-expression, her watercolours being selected for exhibition in Moscow.
Akopian-Tamarina made her London debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival...
in March 1983 (a programme of Schumann and Chopin) followed by engagements around the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe including Amsterdam's Concertgebouw
Concertgebouw
The Concertgebouw is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building"...
.
In the 1990s she gave a series of masterclasses in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
at the Palfi Palace as Artistic Consultant to the Prague Conservatory
Prague Conservatory
Prague Conservatory, sometimes also Prague Conservatoire, in Czech Pražská konzervatoř, is a Czech secondary school in Prague dedicated to teaching the arts of music and theater acting.- Instruction :...
. She also gave masterclasses at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
and Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
in London. In 1997, to commemorate the centenary of Brahms's death, she embarked on a recording cycle of the composer's works for Conifer/BMG and appeared to outstanding critical acclaim at the Dvorak Hall of the Prague Rudolfinum to open both the international piano series of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, and the chamber season of the Czech Philharmonic.
In October 2002, following an absence of twenty-five years, she went back to Russia to play at the Bolshoi Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. During the 2006-2007 season, engagements included the Schumann Piano Concerto, which she had not played for over two decades, with the Ukraine State Philharmonic in Kiev, marking the 150th anniversary of the composer's death.
In January 2008 she returned to the London concert stage with a critically admired all-Brahms programme (Opp 10, 76, 117) in the Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
. Reporting the occasion in International Piano (July/August 2008, p 7), Ates Orga noted her 'luminous fortissimi, ice-edged chords, fine pianissimos, deliberated textures, intricate pedalling, and expansive, singing melodies. Following Neuhaus, she is a strong believer in allegory as a passport to other worlds and states of mind. Phrasing, pausing, breathing, silence, the language of meaning, feeling and communication, is her universe. She takes listeners back to a distant, lost past.' Another recital, of music by Schubert, Janácek and Chopin, followed in the same venue on March 23, 2009. Making her own contribution to the Schumann bicentenary, she gave a recital devoted to the composer's music in the Wigmore Hall on December 9, 2010.