Sascha Gorodnitzki (24 May 1904 – 4 April 1986)[1] 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,[2] 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.[3][4]
Gorodnitzki remained a member of the Juilliard faculty until his death. He died of cardiac arrest in April 1986.[2] 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.
