Charles Amirkhanian Collection ➔ Leo Ornstein playing his piano, Brownsville TX, 1981
Still image
Identifier
IM.CA.PC.0003.012Dates
1981 | createdWork Type
Photographic printImage Class
Composer & Performer PortraitsImage Series
A Visit with Leo Ornstein (1981)Description
Leo Ornstein playing his piano. Born in Kremenchug Russia, on December 11, 1892, (or Dec. 2, 1893) Ornstein moved to the United States in 1907. His antics as a pianist, including his introducing to concert audiences around 1910 a brand of composing previously unknown, brought him a reputation as a fiery radical of the keyboard. His experiments in percussive sonorities and dissonance presaged those of Bartok, Cowell, and Antheil. But by 1927 he had retired due to nervous exhaustion brought on by an overwhelming concert schedule. He later founded a music school in Philadelphia bearing his own name and taught such future notables as Berkeley, California composer Andrew Imbrie.Genres & Subjects
Portrait photographs--1980-1990Men
Composers
Pianists
Pianos