Now in the 8th decade of his life, concert pianist, master
teacher, and chamber musician without peer, this nuch honored
and most durable founding member of the long-lived, revered
BEAUX ARTS TRIO continues to dazzle audiences throughout the
world as soloist and chamber musician while remaining dedicated
to his other calling - teaching.
How does he do it? From where does he get the stamina? His
own words sum up the perfect answer:
“This love for music, for what I do,
is what gives content to my life.
I love playing, I love practicing, I love teaching.”
The German-born Pressler (Magdeburg,
1923) fled Nazi Germany in 1939, emigrating with his family
to Israel. His international career was launched after he
won first prize at the Debussy International Piano Competition
in San Francisco in 1946. Soonafter, he made his American
debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Maestro Eugene
Ormandy. What followed was a carrer that took him on extensive
tours of North America and Europe, perfoming with the world's
major orchestras.
It was at the 1955 Berkshire
Music Festival in Massachusetts where he made his debut as
pianist with the newly formed Beaux Arts Trio, and the rest,
as the saying goes, is history. Through the 55 years of its
existence, he was the only pianist with the Trio which to
this day remains the gold standard for trios throughout the
world. The Beaux Arts Trio played its last performance in
Tanglewood in 2008, its well-earned reputation as "a
class by itself" sealed for generations to come.
Throughout his outstanding career as a performing artist,
Pressler was also a faculty member of the renowned Indiana
University Jacobs School of Music where he is today Distinguished
Professor of Music nad holder of the Charles Webb Chair.
Not ruprisingly, many of his former students have followed
in the footsteps of their honored mentor--winning international
piano competitions, joining the faculties of prestigious music
schools, and making a name for themselves as world-class performing
artists.
Below are video excerpts which paint a composite portrait
of MENAHEM PRESSLER, the artist and the man:
PRESSLER PLAYS MOZART PIANO CONCERT No. 17, K.453
with Daniel Harding conducting the Verbier Festival Orchestra
[Note: This concerto is part
of Pressler's performance with the New York Chamber Soloists
Orchestra
presented by UCLA Live on November 20, 2010]
PRESSLER
: The Beaux Arts Trio Story
THE
BEAUX ARTS TRIO PLAYS DVORAK'S "DUMKY TRIO"
PRESSLER ON HIS LOVE OF TEACHING
[Note: Background music is an excerpt
from Menahem Pressler's performance
of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 with the Verbier Festival Orchestra,
Daniel Harding conducting]
