“Abbey Simon, a piano virtuoso whose rhythmic flexibility, rich colorings and unerring fingers elevated recordings and performances at concert halls around the world, died Dec. 18 at his home in Geneva,” writes Harrison Smith in Sunday’s (12/22) Washington Post. “He was three weeks shy of his 100th birthday…. A piano prodigy who began improvising at the age of 3, Mr. Simon was known for his buoyant renditions of Romantic classics by composers such as Beethoven, Schumann and Rachmaninoff. He recorded some 20 discs of Chopin and the complete piano works of Ravel for the label Vox, performed up to 100 times a year at his peak and taught legions of students at schools including the University of Houston, where he retired only this spring…. He was taught by artists who began their careers in the 19th century—most notably Josef Hofmann, his instructor at the Curtis Institute of Music … Abbey Henry Simon was born in New York City on Jan. 8, 1920, and raised in the Bronx…. He joined the University of Houston’s faculty in 1977 and founded the annual International Piano Festival seven years later. He was also on the faculties of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., and the Juilliard School in Manhattan.”
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