Ania Dorfmann

Ania Dorfmann (9 July 1899 – 21 April 1984) was a Russian-born American pianist and teacher, who taught at the Juilliard School in New York for many years and was the first of only a very few women pianists to play or record under Arturo Toscanini.

Career

Ania Dorfmann was born in Odessa, Russia (now in Ukraine) in 1899, the daughter of a merchant. She gave her first concert at the age of 11. Around this time she accompanied the even younger Jascha Heifetz.[1][2] In 1916-17 she studied in Paris with Isidor Philipp at the Conservatoire de Paris,[3][4] then returned to Russia to find it in the midst of revolution. She returned to France in 1920, commenced her professional career in Belgium,[3] and played throughout Europe and Britain for the next 15 years, under such conductors as Willem Mengelberg, Sir Thomas Beecham and Sir Henry Wood.[5] She made her home in London during this time.[4] Among the artists she appeared with in Britain were John McCormack[6][7] and Heddle Nash.[8]

She made her New York debut in 1936 at the Town Hall,[1] and played there again in 1938 and 1939. She was the first female pianist ever engaged as a soloist by Arturo Toscanini,[1][9] under whom she played Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with his NBC Symphony Orchestra on 2 December 1939, the only time Toscanini ever programmed that work.[10] They later played all the Beethoven piano concertos,[1][11] and recorded the First Concerto in 1945 (there is also a recording of a live performance from 1939).[10] She settled in the United States in 1938,[4] touring and recording. Her agent at that time was David Rubin.[12] Her appearances included concerts under Serge Koussevitzky.[13]

In 1947 Ania Dorfmann worked intensively with the actress Barbara Stanwyck, who was making the film The Other Love, in which she played a concert pianist.[14] Although Ania Dorfmann played the piano music heard on screen, she had Stanwyck practise for three hours a day to make her actions match the music.[15]

In 1956[1] (some sources say 1966) she joined the piano faculty of the Juilliard School, where she remained for most of the rest of her life.[4][5] Ania Dorfmann's students included Lev Natochenny,[16] Solveig Funseth,[17] Minuetta Kessler,[18] Raymond Jackson,[19] Suezenne Fordham,[20] Roman Markowicz,[21] Robert Shannon,[22] and Marian Migdal.[23]

She retired in June 1983 and died on 21 April 1984, aged 84.[24]

Personal life

She was the wife of Vladimir Dorfmann, a Russian businessman she met in Paris. Their daughter, Natacha Ullman (1929-1986), was a writer who used the pen name Natacha Stewart; she was the author of "Evil Eye and Other Stories", and a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. Natacha had two sons, Nicolas and Alex Ullman.[25]

Recordings

Ania Dorfmann made a number of recordings, the most significant of which were:

References

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