Victor Hochhauser
{{Short description|British music promoter (1923–2019)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Victor Hochhauser
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|CBE}}
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1923|03|27|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Košice, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)
| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|03|22|1923|03|27|df=yes}}
| death_place = London, England
| nationality = British
| education =
| occupation = Music promoter
| known for =
| spouse = Lilian Hochhauser ({{nee}} Shields)
(1949–2019; his death)
| parents =
| children = 4, including Mark Sofer and Daniel Hochhauser
| relations =
| website =
}}
Victor Hochhauser {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE}} (27 March 1923 – 22 March 2019) was a British music promoter.
Early life
Hochhauser was born on 27 March 1923{{cite web|url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/Vc0cJFuyw9Boza1pjT7zTHtn-QM/appointments|title=Victor Hochhauser – Personal Appointments|publisher= Companies House}} in Košice, Czechoslovakia, the son of David Hochhauser, an industrialist. His grandfather and great-grandfather were rabbis. He was a direct descendant of the Chatam Sofer, a leading Orthodox Rabbi of European Jewry in the nineteenth century. Hochhauser came with his family to the UK from Slovakia in 1939, as a refugee from the Nazis.{{cite news |title=Impresario Victor Hochhauser, who introduced Russian musical genius to West, dies aged 94 |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/impresario-victor-hochhauser-who-introduced-russian-musical-genius-to-west-dies-aged-94-1.481988 |accessdate=24 March 2019 |work=The Jewish Chronicle |date=24 March 2019}}
Career
His career as an impresario started in 1945 at London's Royal Albert Hall.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/jul/17/victor-hochhauser-impresario|title=Victor Hochhauser: 'My great stroke of luck came when Stalin died'|first=Nicholas|last=Wroe|date=16 July 2010|work=The Guardian}}
Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Hochhauser was the first impresario to organise tours of the West by Soviet musicians, and introduced audiences to David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich, Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter, and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Dmitri Shostakovich was a house guest. Hochhauser has said, "My great stroke of luck came when Stalin died". He and his wife Lilian were called "Britain's foremost independent promoters of classical music and ballet".{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/10988191/Victor-and-Lilian-Hochhauser-exclusive-interview.html|title=Victor and Lilian Hochhauser: exclusive interview|publisher=}}
Honours
Hochhauser was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.{{cite web|url=https://www.thejc.com/culture/interviews/interview-lilian-and-victor-hochhauser-1.12739|title=Lilian and Victor Hochhauser |work= The Jewish Chronicle |first=Jessica |last=Duchen |author-link=Jessica Duchen |date=3 December 2009}}
In June 2010, the Hochhausers were presented with the Order of Friendship by Russia.
Personal life
He met his future wife Lilian Shields, born in Britain to Russian-Jewish parents, when they were both working for Rabbi Dr Solomon Schonfeld in London. Lilian was also appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2018.{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/cbe-for-lilian-hochhauser-who-kept-up-cultural-link-to-russia-in-cold-war-xhhh0nlb6 |title=The Times 30 December 2017|website=The Times |date=17 July 2023 }} They married in 1949 and had four children, including the diplomat Mark Sofer.{{cite web |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/at-90-and-with-stories-to-tell-this-british-impresario-still-presents-cultural-legends/ |title=Haaretz 11 February 2017 |website=The Times of Israel | accessdate=25 March 2019}} Hochhauser was a vegetarian.[https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/victor-hochhauser-obituary-70qvt9fcb "Victor Hochhauser Obituary"]. thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
Hochhauser died on 22 March 2019 in a London hospital.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/mar/24/victor-hochhauser-obituary |title=Victor Hochhauser obituary |first=Hella |last=Pick |date=24 March 2019 | website = theguardian.com |accessdate=25 March 2019|archive-url= https://archive.today/20190325092014/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/mar/24/victor-hochhauser-obituary |archive-date= 25 March 2019 |url-status=live}}