Simon Barere

Simon Barere was a Russian and American pianist, born in Odessa on September 1, 1896, and died in New York City on April 2, 1951. He came from a large Jewish family and was the eleventh child.

From the age of 11 he supported himself and his family by working as a silent-film accompanist. He graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied with Anna Yesipova and Felix Blumenfeld.

After completing his studies he toured widely in many cities of Russia, and from 1919 he taught at the Kyiv Conservatory. In 1929 he was appointed cultural attache9 to the Soviet mission in Latvia; in 1932 he emigrated to Germany, and a year later, after the Nazis came to power, he moved to Sweden.

Barere made his London debut in 1934, performing Tchaikovsky s Piano Concerto No. 1 with an orchestra conducted by Thomas Beecham. In 1936 he appeared at Carnegie Hall for the first time, and from 1939 he lived and worked in the United States.

He died during a concert from a cerebral hemorrhage. Among his best-known recorded performances is Franz Liszt s Sonata in B minor, recorded in 1947 and released by Remington Records in 1950; his discography also includes studio recordings from 1929 and 1934  and Carnegie Hall live recordings from 1946 , featuring repertoire by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Scriabin, and others.

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