Emanuel Ax

Emanuel Manny Ax born June 8 1949 is an American classical pianist He is known for his chamber music collaborations with cellist YoYo Ma and violinists Isaac Stern and Young Uck Kim as well as his piano recitals and performances with major orchestras in the world Starting at age 12 Ax studied piano under Mieczysław Munz of the Juilliard School He won honorable mention at the VIII International Chopin Piano Competition in 1970 third place at the Vianna da Motta International Music Competition in 1971 seventh place at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1972 and first prize in the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 1974 Ax has been a faculty member at the Juilliard School since 1990 Ax was born into the PolishJewish family of Joachim and Hellen Ax in Lviv Ukraine formerly part of the Soviet Union Both parents were Nazi concentration camp survivors Ax began to study piano at the age of six his father was his first piano teacher When he was seven the family moved to Warsaw Poland where he studied piano at the Miodowa school Two years later Axs family moved to Winnipeg Manitoba Canada where he continued to study music including as a member of The Junior Musical Club of Winnipeg In 1961 when Ax was 12 years old the family moved to New York City and Ax continued his piano studies under Mieczysław Munz of the Juilliard School until 1976 when Munz left New York to teach in Japan In 1970 Ax received his BA in French at Columbia University and became an American citizen The same year he won honorable mention at the VIII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw In 1971 he won third place at the Vianna da Motta International Music Competition In 1972 he placed 7th at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels He caught the public eye when he won the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 1974 where he was personally congratulated by renowned pianist Arthur Rubinstein who was a judge for the competition The New York Times reported on Axs win in 1974 and said that in addition to a prize of 5000 Ax will receive the Artur Rubenstein Gold Medal engagements with the Israel Philharmonic and the BBC Orchestra a recording contract with RCA and an artistmanagement contract with Hurok Artists In 1975 Ax was named recipient of the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists and in 1979 he was named recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize Recalling his competition years Ax said You tend to forget how really awful the tension was Here you were No 19 trying to play something better than No 18 Ridiculous For Ax saying which pianist is better is only a subjective judgment at the highest levels can anyone really go to piano recital and say Horowitz is better than Rubinstein The most I can say is that Rubinstein speaks to me with greater voice than this one or that one Though he admits that competitions are a necessary means toward success for pianists Ax hopes to never sit on a jury and eliminate people Source Article Emanuel Ax from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA