Abram Mikhaylovich Lufer (born in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

, 25 August 1905 - died in Kiev, 13 July 1948) was a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * Som ...

pianist.

Biography

Abram Lufer was born on 25 August 1905 in

, he took musical education in the Kiev Music School in 1925 under

Grigory Beklemishev Grigory, Grigori and Grigoriy are Russian masculine given names. It may refer to watcher angels or more specifically to the egrḗgoroi or Watcher angels. Grigory * Grigory Baklanov (1923–2009), Russian novelist * Grigory Barenblatt (1927 ...

, then studying at the Lysenko Musical Institute and graduating in 1928. The following year he was the head of the piano department there. In 1930, he won the All-Ukrainian Piano Competition in

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

and was appointed the National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine's soloist. Two years later he was awarded a 4th prize at the

II International Chopin Piano Competition The II International Chopin Piano Competition ( pl, II Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina) was held from 6 to 23 March 1932 in Warsaw. Popular with the public, it attracted correspondents from all over the world, not lea ...

- having tied with Bolesław Kon, the 3rd prize winner, but he lost at the coin flipping. His disciple Tatyana Goldfarb was awarded a 9th prize at the competition's next edition. Lufer was appointed head director of the Kiev Conservatory in 1934, Lufer supported a three-staged musical education system in Ukraine, and created a music school in Kiev for gifted children, under the support of the Kiev Conservatory. This brought more people to the Kiev Conservatory, and with higher student counts and a need for higher concert activity, Lufer renovated and expanded the conservatory, a government-funded concert hall was built with 850 seats. By the time of the conservatory's 25th anniversary in 1938, Lufer created the folk instrument and music department as the 6th department in the conservatory, along with a choir and opera studio and a postgraduate program, one of the earliest in the USSR. When the Kiev Conservatory was being invaded by Germany in

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January– August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar E ...

, Lufer and most of the institute moved to the

Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblast) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Yekaterinburg, formerly known as ...

, he was replaced by

Viktor Ivanovsky The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French sho ...

initially, but due to sickness Ivanovsky couldn't hold the post, and was replaced by

Ostap Lysenko Ostap ( uk, Остап) is a Ukrainian male given name. Its Russian counterpart is Evstafiy. It derives from the Greek name Eustathius. People with this name include: *Ostap Bender, a fictional character from the Russian novel ''The Twelve Chai ...

. By June 1944, when the occupation ended, Lufer went back to the conservatory and resumed his position as the director. In 1945, during the Soviet Union control of Germany, the

Sing-Akademie zu Berlin The Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, also known as the Berliner Singakademie, is a musical (originally choral) society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th-century ...

was looted, with most of its collection being transported to either Kiev or Moscow, Lufer saw over the musical artifacts, and on 23 October 1945, he went to Germany to examine the Soviet findings of the Sing-Akademie Archive, 10 days later large parts of the archive were controversially moved into the Kiev Conservatory, which were analysed and kept. On 13 July 1948, while still directing the Kiev Conservatory, Lufer died in Kiev.

References

Ukrainian classical pianists Male classical pianists 1905 births 1948 deaths Musicians from Kyiv Prize-winners of the International Chopin Piano Competition 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century composers 20th-century male musicians Soviet pianists {{Ukraine-classical-pianist-stub