David Vladimirovitch Ashkenazi (; 25 December 191519 February 1997) was a Russian-Jewish

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

accompanist Accompaniment is the part (music), musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmony (music), harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in di ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

.Ashkenazy – Still Russian to the core

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

, 3 October 2008 (retrieved 23 October 2008) Ashkenazi was born on 25 December 1915 in

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

. He studied

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

at the local music college and at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...

. He worked as an accompanist with a number of celebrated

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

pop singers, including Isabella Yuryeva,

Klavdiya Shulzhenko Klavdiya Ivanovna Shulzhenko (, ; – June 17, 1984) was a Soviet popular female singer and actress. Biography Shulzhenko started singing with jazz and pop bands in the late 1920s. She rose to fame in the late 1930s with her version of Seba ...

Lyudmila Zykina Lyudmila Georgievna Zykina (; 10 June 1929 – 1 July 2009) was a national folk singer of Russia. She was born in Moscow and joined the Pyatnitsky Choir in 1947. Her surname is derived from the Russian word for "loud" ("зычный"). Beginn ...

, Marina Gordon,

Vadim Kozin Vadim Alekseyevich Kozin (March 21, 1903 – December 19, 1994) was a Russian tenor, songwriter. Vadim Alekseyevich Kozin was born the son of a merchant in Saint Petersburg to Alexei Gavrilovich Kozin and Vera Ilinskaya in 1903. His mother was ...

Mark Bernes Mark Naumovich Bernes () (born Menakhem-Man Neukh-Shmuylov Neyman, ; ,This date: – is a mistake found in the ''Great Soviet Encyclopaedia''. True date: – was engraved on the Bernes's gravestone at Novodevichy Cemetery (Moscow), and also ...

Iosif Kobzon Joseph Davydovich Kobzon (11 September 1937 – 30 August 2018) was a Soviet-born Russian singer, known for his crooner style. Early life Kobzon was born to Jewish Ukrainian parents in the mining town of Chasiv Yar, in the Donbas region of ...

and others. He was made People's Artist of Russia in 1996. In 1964 he and violinist Naum Latunsky performed in an episode of the film ''The Garnet Bracelet'', which was an adaptation of the celebrated novella of the same name by

Alexander Kuprin Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (; – 25 August 1938) was a Russian writer best known for his novels ''The Duel'' (1905)Kuprin scholar Nicholas Luker, in his biography ''Alexander Kuprin'', calls ''The Duel'' his "greatest masterpiece" (ch ...

. He set to music the

Yakov Polonsky Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (; ) was a leading Pushkinist poet who wrote poems faithful to the traditions of Russian Romantic poetry during the heyday of realistic prose. Of noble birth, Polonsky attended the Moscow University, where he befriended ...

's poem titled "When in a separation presentiment", and his song was covered by many singers. David Ashkenazi was the father of the famous pianist and conductor

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, ...

. He died on 19 February 1997 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashkenazi, David 1915 births 1997 deaths Burials at Vostryakovskoye Cemetery Musicians from Nizhny Novgorod People from Nizhegorodsky Uyezd Russian Jews 20th-century Russian classical pianists Jewish classical pianists Jewish composers Soviet pianists Soviet composers Soviet male composers Moscow Conservatory alumni Russian male classical pianists 20th-century Russian male musicians