Sascha Gorodnitzki
{{Short description|American pianist (1904–1986)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sascha Gorodnitzki
| birth_date = 24 May 1904
| birth_place = Kyiv, Russian Empire
| death_date = {{death date and age|1986|04|04|1904|05|24}}
| nationality = American
| awards = Schubert Memorial Prize (1930)
}}
Sascha Gorodnitzki (24 May 1904{{spaced ndash}}4 April 1986)[https://books.google.com/books?id=gtlCuMH2O4gC&dq=Sascha+Gorodnitzki+1904+1986&pg=PA510 Harold C. Schonberg, Great Pianists]. Retrieved 27 March 2014 was an American concert pianist, recording artist and pedagogue at the Juilliard School of Music.
Biography
= Early life and education =
Born in Kyiv, Russian Empire Gorodnitzki emigrated as an infant to Brooklyn, NY,{{cite news |title=Concert Pianist, Juilliard Teacher, Sascha Gorodnitzki |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98200494/sascha-gorodnitzki-1904-1986/ |work=Chicago Tribune |date=April 9, 1986 |location=Chicago, IL |page=25 |accessdate=March 23, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} where his parents founded a college of music. He was a child prodigy, but his parents had refused to allow him to embark on a performing career as a child. His teachers included his mother, then Percy Goetschius, William J. Henderson, Edwin Hughes, and Krehbiel at the Institute of Musical Art, which later became the Juilliard School. He entered the Juilliard Graduate School in 1926, where he was awarded teaching fellowship. He studied piano performance with Josef Lhévinne and composition with Rubin Goldmark, graduating with highest honors in 1932.
= Performing career =
Gorodnitzki won the Schubert Memorial Prize in 1930, which launched a long concert career, He made his debut with the New York Philharmonic Symphony Society and played his first Carnegie Hall solo recital in 1931. During his performing career, he toured the United States, Canada and Latin America, appearing under the direction of conductors such as Fritz Reiner, Leopold Stokowski and Pierre Monteux, among many others. He made multiple radio and television appearances.{{Cite web|title=Sascha Gorodnitzki - Steinway & Sons|url=https://www.steinway.com/artists/sascha-gorodnitzki|access-date=2021-12-09|website=www.steinway.com|language=en}}{{cite web|title=Sascha Gorodnitzki Collection|url=http://www.lib.umd.edu/ipam/collections/sascha-gorodnitzki|publisher=International Piano Archives at Maryland|accessdate=12 July 2013}}
= Pedagogy =
Gorodnitzki began teaching at Juilliard in 1932. In 1942 he married a pianist, Virginia Henderson (1917–2009).{{cite web|title=Virginia H. Gorodnitzki|url=http://www.easthamptonstar.com/dnn/Obituaries/tabid/10125/Default.aspx|publisher=The East Hampton Star|accessdate=12 July 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002232602/http://www.easthamptonstar.com/dnn/Obituaries/tabid/10125/Default.aspx|archivedate=2 October 2009}} He also taught at the Temple University Music Festival and Institute in the late 1960s and early 1970s. in the interval between 1977 and 1979 his students won 40 major awards in world-class competitions. He was described by The New York Times as a "perfectionist"{{cite news|last=Page|first=Tim|title=Sascha Gorodnitzki, Pianist, and Juilliard Faculty Member|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/08/obituaries/sascha-gorodnitzki-pianist-and-juilliard-faculty-member.html|work=New York Times|date=8 April 1986|accessdate=12 July 2013}} who inspired immense loyalty from his students. Those who worked with him at Juilliard included Eugene Istomin, Garrick Ohlsson, Dennis Russell Davies, Janina Fialkowska, Tom Pierson, Michael Korstick, Şahan Arzruni, Jack Winerock, Manfred Clynes, Lois Towles, Angela Cheng, Sophia Agranovich, Craig Sheppard, Dana Perelman, André Laplante and many others. His style of coaching was described as "supportive and intimidating."People. May 14, 1979 Vol. 11 No. 19 For Sascha Gorodnitzki's Roster of Prize-Winning Pianists, Being Good Is Not Good Enough. By Barbara Rowes
Gorodnitzki remained a member of the Juilliard faculty until his death. He died of cardiac arrest in April 1986. He was 81 years old and lived in Manhattan. His widow endowed the Sascha Gorodnitzki Faculty Chair in Piano Studies, headed by Gorodnitzki's student, Eduardus Halim, at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture in 2008.
= Discography =
His recorded legacy for Capitol, EMI/Angel and Columbia includes solo works by Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Godowsky, Paderewski and Debussy.{{Cite web|title=Sascha Gorodnitzki's Discography Collection|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/3535655-Sascha-Gorodnitzki|access-date=2021-12-11|website=Discogs|language=en}} His playing was described as "electrifying" and "exciting."
References
{{Reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorodnitzki, Sascha}}
Category:20th-century American classical pianists
Category:American male pianists
Category:20th-century male pianists
Category:Juilliard School alumni
Category:Juilliard School faculty
Category:Musicians from New York City
Category:American piano educators
Category:Pupils of Percy Goetschius
Category:20th-century American male musicians
Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States