Maria Curcio (27 August 1918
/ref> or 191930 March 2009) was an Italian classical

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, ...

who became a sought-after teacher. Her students included Barry Douglas, Ignat Solzhenitsyn,

Martha Argerich Martha Argerich (; ; born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argerich gave her debut concert at the age of eight before receiving further piano training in Europe. At an early age, she won sev ...

, Evelyne Brancart,

Radu Lupu Radu Lupu (30 November 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time. Born in Galați, Romania, Lupu began studying piano at the age of six. Two of his major piano teache ...

, Dame

Mitsuko Uchida is a Japanese-English classical pianist and conductor. Born in Japan and naturalised in England, she is particularly notable for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert. She has appeared with many notable orchestras, recorded a wide repert ...

Myung-Whun Chung Myung-whun Chung (; born 22 January 1953) is a South Korean conductor and pianist. Career Performer Chung studied piano with Maria Curcio and won joint second-prize in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition. He performed in the Chun ...

Leon Fleisher Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...

, Rafael Orozco,

Christopher Elton Christopher Elton is a British piano teacher, former Head of the Keyboard department of the Royal Academy of Music in London and a professor emeritus of the University of London. Biography Christopher Elton was born in Edinburgh and studied at ...

, Hilary Coates, Simone Dinnerstein, Massimiliano Mainolfi, Matthew Schellhorn and

Geoffrey Tozer Geoffrey Peter Bede Hawkshaw Tozer (5 November 1954 – 21 August 2009) was an Australian classical pianist and composer. A child prodigy, he composed an opera at the age of eight and became the youngest recipient of a Churchill Fellowship award ...

. She was the last student of

Artur Schnabel Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-born classical pianist, composer and Pedagogy, pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th ...

and she passed on his teachings to her own students.

Biography

Maria Curcio was born in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

in 1918, to an Italian father and a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish-

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian mother, also a pianist who had studied with a pupil of

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

.Times Online, 25 April 2009
/ref> She was playing by age three, and at age seven was taken to Rome to play for

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

, but refused to do so. She was tutored at home to leave more time for practising, but she did not have a happy childhood, as she was pushed into accepting too many engagements too soon, and there was no time to play or have friends.

Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. List of compositions by Ottorino Respighi, His compositions ra ...

invited her to give a recital at his house. She was accepted to the

Naples Conservatory This is a list of music conservatories in Naples, Italy. Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella The Naples Conservatory of Music is a music school located in Naples, Italy. It is situated in the complex of San Pietro a Majella. It was originally ...

at age nine, receiving her degree by 14. Her mother arranged for her to study with

Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a f ...

and Carlo Zecchi (a pupil of

) in Italy, and with

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. She also studied with Artur Schnabel himself from age 15; he did not normally take young pupils, but his son

Karl Ulrich Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cac ...

persuaded him to audition her. When he did so, he described her as "one of the greatest talents I have ever met". When Schnabel was on tour, she had lessons with

Fritz Busch Fritz Busch (13 March 1890 – 14 September 1951) was a German conductor. Busch was born in Siegen to a musical family and studied at the Cologne Conservatory. After army service in the First World War, he was appointed to senior posts in two G ...

. She made her London debut in 1939,Liverpool Daily Post, 9 April 2009
/ref> but at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she was in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, where she had followed Schnabel's secretary Peter Diamand, and where she performed frequently. However, during the

German occupation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of ''Fall Gelb'' (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the Rotterdam Blitz, bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces ...

from 1940, when Jews were banned from playing in public, she turned down all offers of engagements in protest (Diamand was Jewish). Diamand spent some time in a Dutch concentration camp before escaping. They then needed to hide from the Nazis, in attics and other cramped places, with inadequate food. She became a victim of malnutrition and

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, unable to even walk properly, let alone play. Her performing career was now effectively over. She married Diamand in 1948, but she needed years of therapy to restore her power to her legs, arms and fingers.

Wilhelm Furtwängler Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , ; ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is regarded as one of the greatest Symphony, symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a majo ...

wanted to record with her, but by the time he died in 1954 she still had not recovered sufficient strength. She did, however, finally return to playing; she collaborated with such artists as

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

Carlo Maria Giulini Carlo Maria Giulini (; 9 May 1914 – 14 June 2005) was an Italian conductor. From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conserv ...

Szymon Goldberg Szymon Goldberg (1 June 1909 – 19 July 1993) was a Polish-born Jewish classical violinist and conductor, latterly an American. Born in Włocławek, Congress Poland, Goldberg played the violin as a child growing up in Warsaw. His first teacher ...

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (; 14 May 18856 July 1973) was a German conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the United States, Hungary and finally, Great Britain. He began his career as an opera conductor, but he was later bet ...

Josef Krips Josef Alois Krips (8 April 1902 – 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist. Life and career Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips, a medical doctor and amateur singer, and his mother was Aloisia, née Seit ...

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in 1 ...

and

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (; 9 December 1915 – 3 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British lyric soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as w ...

. Her last performance was in 1963. She then turned to teaching and giving

master class ''Master Class'' is a 1995 play by American playwright Terrence McNally, presented as a fictional master class by opera singer Maria Callas near the end of her life, in the 1970s. The play features incidental vocal music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giac ...

es. She also coached singers at Josef Krips's request when he conducted the

Netherlands Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a m ...

. In the meantime, Peter Diamand had been appointed director of the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

and they had moved to the UK. She served on the jury of the

Leeds International Pianoforte Competition The Leeds International Piano Competition, informally known as The Leeds and formerly the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, is an international piano competition which takes place every three years in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It ...

in 1966, and on the jury of the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition in 1978. She was appointed visiting professor at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. She played privately with Sir

Clifford Curzon Sir Clifford Michael Curzon CBE (né Siegenberg; 18 May 19071 September 1982) was an English classical pianist. Curzon studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and subsequently with Artur Schnabel in Berlin and Wanda Landowska and ...

, who had introduced her to Benjamin Britten,

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...

and their circle in 1947. She often played four-hand piano music with Britten.Michael Church
She and her husband divorced in 1971 after he had a relationship with

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however, Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

. She spent her last few years in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, where she died in March 2009, aged 90.

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

made two films about Maria Curcio in the 1980s: ''Music in Camera: Maria Curcio – Fulfilling a Legacy'' and ''Maria Curcio – Piano Teacher''. A documentary of her life, ''Music Beyond Sound'', was made by her student Douglas Ashley in 1993. He also wrote a book of the same name.

Students

Maria Curcio's students came from many countries, and included: * Pierre-Laurent AimardThe Guardian, 14 April 2009
/ref> *

* Douglas Ashley * Thomas Bartlett * Peter Bithell * Michel BlockDouglas Ashley, Classical Pianist
/ref> * Evelyne Brancart * Pietro Maranca * Angela Brownridge *

Myung-whun Chung Myung-whun Chung (; born 22 January 1953) is a South Korean conductor and pianist. Career Performer Chung studied piano with Maria Curcio and won joint second-prize in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition. He performed in the Chun ...

* Rae de Lisle * Simone Dinnerstein * Barry Douglas *

* Hilary Coates * José Feghali * Brian Finley *

* Claude Frank * Peter Frankl * Alan Gampel * Frank Glazer * Anthony Goldstone * Suzanne Goyette * Folke Gräsbeck * Albert Guinovart * Sam Haywood *

Jean-François Heisser Jean-François Heisser (born 7 December 1950) is a French classical pianist. Biography Born in Saint-Étienne, Heisser studied piano first with Paul Simonnar in Saint-Étienne, then at the Conservatoire de Paris with Vlado Perlemuter. His vast r ...

Ian Hobson Ian Hobson is an English pianist, conductor and teacher, and is a professor at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and at Florida State University. His pianistic repertoire spans the baroque to the contemporary, but he specialises in t ...

* Niel Immelman * Terence Judd * Angela Kim * Vedat Kosal * Dalia Lazar (her last student) * Eric Le Sage *

* Tessa Nicholson * Rafael Orozco * Alfredo Perl * Lenia Erodiadou * Massimiliano Mainolfi *

Matti Raekallio Matti Juhani Raekallio (born 14 October 1954 in Helsinki) is a Finnish pianist. Raekallio studied in Helsinki, in Vienna with , in London with Maria Curcio, and in Saint Petersburg. In 1996, his doctoral thesis at the Sibelius Academy was ''Sorm ...

* Matthew Schellhorn * Ignat Solzhenitsyn * Yevgeny Sudbin *

Sergio Tiempo Sergio Daniel Tiempo (born February 24, 1972) is a Venezuelan-Argentine classical pianist. Biography Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Sergio Tiempo began playing the piano at an early age. His first teacher was his mother, Lyl Tiempo, who began teachin ...

Hugh Tinney Hugh Tinney (born 1958) is an Irish pianist. Biography Tinney was a pupil at Gonzaga College, Dublin through the 1970s, and studied physics at Trinity College Dublin. In 1983 he won the first prize of the International Ettore Pozzoli Piano C ...

* Inon Barnatan *

. * Douglas WeeksThe Petrie School of Music at Converse College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curcio, Maria 1910s births 2009 deaths Italian music educators Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Piano educators Pupils of Artur Schnabel Musicians from Naples 20th-century Italian classical pianists 20th-century Italian musicians Italian women music educators Italian women classical pianists 20th-century Italian women pianists