Leon Fleisher

Early life and studies

Leon Fleisher was born on July 23, 1928, in San Francisco to poor Jewish immigrants; his father made hats, and his mother was determined he become a concert pianist. He began piano at age four, debuted publicly at eight, and at nine became a rare child prodigy accepted by the Austrian teacher Artur Schnabel, whose own lineage traced back to Beethoven. Fleisher also studied with Maria Curcio and Karl Ulrich Schnabel. At 16, he performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Monteux, who called him "the pianistic find of the century."

Performer and recording artist

In the 1950s, Fleisher signed an exclusive recording contract with Columbia Masterworks. He was particularly well known for his interpretations of the piano concerti of Brahms and Beethoven, which he recorded with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. They also recorded Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25, the Grieg and Schumann piano concertos, Franck's Symphonic Variations, and Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. At age 24, he became the first American to win a prestigious piano competition established by Queen Elisabeth of Belgium.

In 1964, at age 36, Fleisher lost the use of his right hand due to a neurological condition eventually diagnosed as focal dystonia. In 1967, he commenced performing and recording left-handed repertoire. He undertook conducting beginning in 1968, became associate conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 1973, and music director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra. In the 1990s, after experimental botox injections, he ameliorated his focal dystonia symptoms to the point where he could play with both hands again.

In 2004, Vanguard Classics released his first 'two-handed' recording since the 1960s, titled Two Hands, to critical acclaim. A short documentary of the same name by Nathaniel Kahn was nominated for an Academy Award on January 23, 2007. Fleisher received the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors. Composers who wrote music for him included William Bolcom, who composed his Concerto for Two Pianos, Left Hand for Fleisher and Gary Graffman, as well as Lukas Foss, Leon Kirchner, and Gunther Schuller.

Did You Know?

• At age nine, Fleisher became one of the few child prodigies accepted to study with Artur Schnabel, whose teaching lineage descended directly from Beethoven through Carl Czerny and Theodor Leschetizky.
• In 2004, Fleisher played the world premiere of Paul Hindemith's Klaviermusik, a left-hand piano concerto completed in 1923, with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Simon Rattle.