William Masselos was an American classical pianist.

Biography

William Masselos was born in Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 50,193, down from the 55,593 recorded in the 2000 census. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario , both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they...

 to a Dutch mother and a Greek father. He made his New York debut at The Town Hall

The Town Hall

The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...

 in 1938 at the age of 18.

He studied with Carl Friedberg

Carl Friedberg

Carl Rudolf Hermann Friedberg was a German pianist and teacher.Friedberg studied piano with James Kwast and with Clara Schumann at the Hoch Conservatory, Frankfurt. He later became a teacher there and later at the Cologne Conservatory...

, a disciple of Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

 and Clara Schumann

Clara Schumann

Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...

, and also with Nelly Reuschel (another Clara Schumann disciple) at New York's Institute of Musical Art (later called Juilliard School

Juilliard School

The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...

).

In 1952, at the age of 32, Masselos played the Brahms Piano Concerto in D minor

Piano Concerto No. 1 (Brahms)

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, is a work for piano and orchestra composed by Johannes Brahms in 1858. The composer gave the work's public debut in Hanover, Germany, the following year.-Form:...

 in his first appearance with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Dimitri Mitropoulos. This impressive debut was the first in a long line of appearances with major orchestras which also included the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Monteux

Pierre Monteux

Pierre Monteux was an orchestra conductor. Born in Paris, France, Monteux later became an American citizen.-Life and career:Monteux was born in Paris in 1875. His family was descended from Sephardi Jews who came to France in the wake of the Spanish Inquisition. He studied violin from an early age,...

 and Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...

, the Montreal Symphony under Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...

, the London Philharmonic under Bernard Haitink

Bernard Haitink

Bernard Johan Herman Haitink, CH, KBE is a Dutch conductor and violinist.- Early life :Haitink was born in Amsterdam, the son of Willem Haitink and Anna Haitink. He studied music at the conservatoire in Amsterdam...

, the American Symphony Orchestra

American Symphony Orchestra

The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski, then aged 80. Following Maestro Stokowski's departure, Kazuyoshi Akiyama was appointed Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra from 1973-1978. Music Directors during the early...

 under Leopold Stokowski

Leopold Stokowski

Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...

, the Philadelphia Orchestra

Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...

 under Eugene Ormandy

Eugene Ormandy

Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...

, and numerous others.

Known as a champion of contemporary music, Masselos premiered many works including the Charles Ives

Charles Ives

Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...

 Piano Sonata No. 1, the Piano Fantasy by Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...

, and most of the piano literature by Ben Weber, including the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and the Fantasy (Variations), Op. 25. He was the soloist in the first performances of piano concertos by Alan Hovhaness

Alan Hovhaness

Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...

, Johan Franco, Marga Richter

Marga Richter

-Biography:Marga Richter was born in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, the daughter of soprano Inez Chandler-Richter . She studied piano at the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis with Irene Hellner and with Helena Morsztyn in New York...

, Carlos Surinach

Carlos Surinach

Carlos Surinach was a Catalan Spanish-born composer and conductor.He was born in Barcelona, where he held conducting posts at the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona and the Gran Teatre del Liceu...

, and William Mayer

William Mayer

William Mayer , is an American composer.Mayer entered Yale University in 1944, but his college years were interrupted by military service...

, in addition to solo pieces by John Cage

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, Dane Rudhyar

Dane Rudhyar

Dane Rudhyar , born Daniel Chennevière, was an author, modernist composer and humanistic astrologer. He was the pioneer of modern transpersonal astrology.-Biography:...

, Robert Helps

Robert Helps

Robert Helps was an American pianist and composer....

, Carlos Chavez

Carlos Chávez

Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...

, and many others.

As an heir, through Carl Friedberg, of the Schumann and Brahms tradition, he was also particularly noted for his interpretation of the Schumann Davidsbundlertanze

Davidsbündlertänze

Davidsbündlertänze , Op. 6, is a group of eighteen pieces for solo piano composed by Robert Schumann in 1837. Schumann named them after the imaginary Davidsbündler. The pieces are not true dances, but are characteristic pieces, musical dialogues about contemporary music between Schumann's...

, Op. 6, and the Brahms Sonatas, both of which he recorded for RCA

RCA

RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...

 in the early 1970s and are highly esteemed record collector items.

Masselos died in October 1992, aged 72.

In May 2011, the pianist Lori Sims

Lori Sims

Lori Sims is an award-winning American pianist.After winning the Gold Medal at the 1998 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, Lori Sims performed throughout North America, Europe, and China including engagements with the NordDeutscheRadio Orchester in Hannover, Israel Philharmonic,...

 played a concert of works associated with Masselos at the Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York.