Gregor Benko (born August 4, 1944

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, United States) is an American writer, lecturer, record producer, and collector-historian whose primary focus is classical piano performance documented on recordings from (or having to do with) the

Romantic Era Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

. His work helped lay the groundwork for the " Romantic Revival," which continued on into the 21st century. He was the founder, along with Albert Petrak, of the

International Piano Archives The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library system in the Washington D.C.–Baltimore area. The system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an off-site stor ...

(initially named the International Piano Library but later changed due to state law). Benko managed the non-profit institution for two decades, attracting Spanish virtuosa

Alicia de Larrocha Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 192325 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist and composer. She was considered one of the great piano legends of the 20th century. Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", ''Time'' " ...

to act as the President of the corporation, and building an enormous collection of recordings, scores, memorabilia and associated matter concerning concert pianists. In 1977 Benko donated the collections to the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

, where they formed the nucleus of the International Piano Archives at Maryland. Among Benko's most significant achievements was the unearthing and publishing of many previously unknown recordings of the Polish-American virtuoso

Josef Hofmann Josef Casimir Hofmann (originally Józef Kazimierz Hofmann; January 20, 1876February 16, 1957) was a Polish-American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor. Biography Josef Hofmann was born in Podgórze (a district of Kraków), in Aus ...

, as well as dozens of historic recordings by other "golden age" pianists. He is also credited with rediscovering and bringing back to public awareness the elderly and reclusive Hungarian piano virtuoso

Ervin Nyiregyházi Ervin Nyiregyházi (January 19, 1903, BudapestApril 8, 1987, Los Angeles) was a Hungarian and American pianist and composer. After several years on the concert stage in the 1920s, he descended into relative obscurity before briefly reemerging in ...

. The recordings that Benko produced, initially for the International Piano Archives, as well as new recordings he made with Nyiregyházi that were issued by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

, were heatedly discussed for a time due to the pianist's enormous dynamic range and willful interpretive style. Well-regarded critic

Harold C. Schonberg Harold Charles Schonberg (29 November 1915 – 26 July 2003) was an American music critic and author. He is best known for his contributions in ''The New York Times'', where he was chief music critic from 1960 to 1980. In 1971, he became the fi ...

- also a devotee of Romantic pianism - called one of them "a divine madness." Benko had almost no formal education, but credits his close relationships with Schonberg and Frank Cooper, founder of the

Festival of Neglected Romantic Music The Festival of Neglected Romantic Music was founded by musicologist Frank Cooper at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1968. History Cooper directed the Festival for the next eleven years, during which time many seminal works of the ...

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

, as the most important professional associations in his life, and considers each a mentor. Benko's later career has included lecturing, articles, reviews, liner notes. With Edward Blickstein, he is the co-author of ''Chopin's Prophet, the Life of pianist

Vladimir de Pachmann Vladimir de Pachmann or Pachman (27 July 18486 January 1933) was a pianist from the Russian Empire of German ethnicity, especially noted for performing the works of Chopin and for his eccentric performing style. Biography He was born Vladimir Pac ...

''. He has been engaged for over thirty years in work on a comprehensive biography of Josef Hofmann. Benko was awarded the American Liszt Society medal at the 2017 Festival of The American Liszt Society in April 2017. The citation for the medal concludes with these words by Dr. Richard Zimdars: "Gregor’s life work has made and will continue to make a priceless contribution to preserving the aural and documentary history of piano performance in the twentieth century for listeners, performers, scholars, and Lisztians. It is fitting to award him the Medal of The American Liszt Society".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benko, Gregor Living people 1944 births American music historians American male non-fiction writers Record producers from Ohio Writers from Cleveland Historians from Ohio