Youri Aleksandrovich Egorov was a Soviet classical pianist.

Early years

Born in Kazan

Kazan

Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...

, USSR, Youri Egorov studied music at the Kazan Conservatory from the age of 6 until age 17. One of his early teachers was Irina Dubinina, a former pupil of Yakov Zak

Yakov Zak

Yakov Izrailevich Zak , , Jiakov Israilevič Sak; Odessa, - Moscow, June 28, 1976) was a Soviet pianist and teacher of Jewish extraction.Born in Odessa, Zak studied piano at the Odessa Conservatory with Maria Starkhova, took classes on special harmony with Mykola Vilinsky, and later studied with...

 .

At the age of 17, in 1971, Egorov took 4th Prize in Paris at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition

Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition

The Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition is an international classical music competition for pianists and violinists that has operated in France since 1943. It was created by the pianist Marguerite Long and the violinist Jacques Thibaud...

. He next studied at the Moscow Conservatory

Moscow Conservatory

The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...

 with Yakov Zak

Yakov Zak

Yakov Izrailevich Zak , , Jiakov Israilevič Sak; Odessa, - Moscow, June 28, 1976) was a Soviet pianist and teacher of Jewish extraction.Born in Odessa, Zak studied piano at the Odessa Conservatory with Maria Starkhova, took classes on special harmony with Mykola Vilinsky, and later studied with...

. Egorov remained at the Moscow Conservatory for six years. In 1974, Egorov won the Bronze Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition

International Tchaikovsky Competition

The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow, Russia for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 30 years of age, and singers between 19 and 32 years of age...

 in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. In 1975, he was awarded the 3rd Prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition

Queen Elisabeth Music Competition

The Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, a founding member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions has been, since its foundation, considered the world over to be one of the most prestigious and most difficult. It is devoted to violin , piano , to composition and to singing...

 Of Belgium.

Defection and Career in the West

Feeling politically and, being gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

, sexually constrained by the Soviet system, Egorov defected from the Soviet Union in 1976 while on a concert tour in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and travelled to Amsterdam where he was to meet his long term partner.

In 1977 Egorov participated in the Van Cliburn Competition

Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was first held in 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas and is hosted by Van Cliburn Foundation. It was created by Fort Worth area teachers in honor of Van Cliburn, who had won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition four years prior with Tchaikovsky's...

 in Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...

. He became an audience favorite. When he was not chosen as a finalist, a group of patrons and Cliburn board members formed an ad-hoc committee led by Cliburn trustee Beverley Taylor Smith and American impresario Maxim Gershunoff, which raised money equal to the Van Cliburn top prize of $10,000 to further Egorov's career by funding a New York debut. The South African Steven DeGroote

Steven DeGroote

Steven De Groote was a South African classical pianist.Steven De Groote was born in Johannesburg, South Africa into a Belgian family in which, for three generations, almost every member had been a professional musician. His grandmother was a recipient of the Prix de Rome in Belgium, and his father...

 took the first place award that year. Gershunoff as Egorov's American manager presented his New York recital debut in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on January 23, 1978. Three months later to the day, he appeared in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois and a critic there dubbed his performance “the debut of the decade.” In July, 1978, Musical America Magazine selected Youri Egorov as their "Musician of the Month". He made his Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 debut on December 16, 1978 once again under the aegis of Gershunoff. The concert was recorded live. Writing for The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, Harold C. Schonberg

Harold C. Schonberg

Harold Charles Schonberg was an American music critic and journalist, most notably for The New York Times. He was the first music critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism...

 said Egorov played "...in a free, romantic style, and his approach is quite different from that of so many competition winners."

In August 1979, two of Egorov's albums appeared on Billboard Magazine's Best-Selling Classical LP chart. Throughout the 1980s Egorov played primarily in Europe. His last American appearance was in Florida in 1986.

Egorov was featured in the book "Great Contemporary Pianists Speak for Themselves" compiled by Elyse Mach. In it, he spoke candidly on the topics of rehearsal, pre-concert nervousness, artistic restrictions in Russia, and homosexuality. Sviatoslav Richter

Sviatoslav Richter

Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was a Soviet pianist well known for the depth of his interpretations, virtuoso technique, and vast repertoire. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Childhood:...

, Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy.-Biography:...

, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was a virtuoso Italian classical pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, as well as one of the most important Italian pianists along with Ferruccio Busoni and Maurizio Pollini.-Biography:Born in Brescia, Italy, he began...

, Vladimir Horowitz

Vladimir Horowitz

Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz    was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...

 and Glenn Gould

Glenn Gould

Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach...

 are among the pianists Youri Egorov cited as having influenced him.

Death and legacy

Egorov died at his home in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 from what was believed to be complications of AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

. Egorov was 33 years old. At the time of his death 14 recordings of his had been commercially issued, and several more were awaiting release.

Parallels have been drawn between the playing styles of Youri Egorov and Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy.-Biography:...

. Additionally, both men gave their final concert performances at the age of 33, each knowing at the time that he was afflicted with a fatal illness and had but months to live.

In 1989 Egorov was the subject of a VPRO

VPRO

The VPRO was established in the Netherlands in 1926 as a religious broadcasting organization. Falling under the Protestant pillar, it represented the Liberal Protestant current...

 Television documentary, "Youri Egorov 1954 - 1988" by Eline Flipse. The program won the special prize of the jury at the BANFF-televisiefestival in Canada and was nominated in 1990 for the Prix Italia

Prix Italia

The Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...

.

Egorov's posthumously released CD, "Legacy 2: Youri Egorov", received the "Perfect Five-Star Rating" from CD Review Magazine.

Selected discography

• "Legacy 1: Schubert: Sonata in C minor DV958 / Moments Musicaux DV780" (Canal Grande CG 9213) 1992.
• "Legacy 2: Bach: Partita No.6 BWV830/ Bartók: Sonata (1926)/ Chopin: Etudes Op.10" (Canal Grande CG 9214) 1992.
• "Legacy 3: Prokoviev: Sonata No.8 Op.84 in B Major / Shostakovich: Sonata No.2 Op.64 / Babadjanjan: Bilder Für Piano" (Canal Grande CG 9215) 1992.
• "Legacy 4: Haydn: Sonata No.33 Hoboken XVI/20 / Scarlatti: 6 Sonatas / Beethoven: Andante Favori in F Major two versions record in 1982 and in 1987" (Canal Grande (CG 9216) 1992.
• "Bach: Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in d minor BWV903/ Mozart: Fantasy in c minor KV475/ Chopin: Fantasy in f minor Op.49/ Chopin: Etude in G-flat Major Op.10 No.5/ Schumann: Fantasy in C Major Op.17, (Carnegie Hall Recital)" (Globe: GLO 6015, GLO 5002) 1979.
• "Bach: The well-tempered clavier Book 1: No.5 in D Major BWV850/ No.13 in F sharp major BWV857/ No.24 in B minor BWV869/ Italian Concerto F Major BWV971" (Astoria DP 87001).
• "Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5 "Emperor" / Mozart: Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor KV466, Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch" (Encore CDE 7 67764 2, EMI CDZ 2 52728 2, EMI CDD 7 63892 2) 1986.
• "Brahms: Klavierstücke Op.118 Intermezzo in a, Intermezzo in A and Intermezzo in f/ Schubert: Sonata in c DV958/ Schubert: Moments Musicaux DV780" (Philips Essential Recordings 464 375-2) 1999.
• "Chopin: Fantaisie in F Minor Op.49/ Ballade No. 1 in G Minor Op.23/ Nocturne in F sharp Op.15 No.2/ Nocturne in D flat Op.27 No.2/ Nocturne in E minor Op. posth.72 No.1/ Scherzo No.2 in B flat minor Op.31 & Schumann: Papillons Op.2" (EMI CDM 7643022) 1992.
• "Debussy: Préludes Books 1 & 2/ Reflets dans l'eau/ Estampes" (EMI CDC 7 49411 2, EMI 7423 5736562, CFP Silver Doubles, Classics for Pleasure 4805) 1985.
• "Mozart: Piano Concerto No.17 in G Major KV453 / Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor KV466, Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch" (EMI CDZ 2 52728 2) 1986.
• "Schubert: Moments Musicaux DV780, Op94/ Piano Sonata in C No19, DV958" (Channel Classics) 1993.
• "Schubert: Sonata for violin and piano A major Op.162 posth. DV574/ Brahms: Sonata No.3 for piano and violin d minor Op.108/ Bartók: Sonata No.2 for violin and piano Op.21" with Emmy Verhey violin (ROEM 884/ WVH 023) 1990.
• "Schumann: Kreisleriana Op.16/ Novelettes, Op.21 Nos. 1 & 8" (EMI: CDM 7 69537 2) 1978.
• "Schumann: Carnaval Op.9/ Toccata Op.7/ Arabeske Op.18/ Bunte Blätter Op.99" (EMI: CDM 7 63163 2) 1989.
• "Schumann: Carnaval Op.9/ Toccata Op.7/ Arabesque Op.18/ Bunte Blätter Op.99/ Kreisleriana Op.16/ Novellettes Op.21 1 & 8/ Papillons Op.2" (EMI: 7423 5 74191 2 3) 2000.
• "Schumann: Carnaval Op.9 & Chopin: Fantaisie in F Minor Op.49/ Ballade No.1 in G Minor Op.23/ Nocturne in F sharp Op.15 No.2/ Nocturne in D flat Op.27 No.2/ Nocturne in E minor Op. posth.72 No.1/ Scherzo No.2 in B flat minor Op.31" (Royal Classics ROY 6455) 1994.

External links

• A Tribute to Youri Egorov
• The Grave of Youri Egorov