Emanuel Ax

Emanuel "Manny" Ax (born June 8, 1949) is an American classical pianist. He is known for his chamber music collaborations with cellist Yo-Yo 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 Polish-Jewish 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, Ax's 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 B.A. 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 Ax's win in 1974 and said that in addition to a prize of $5,000, Ax "will receive the Artur Rubenstein Gold Medal engagements with the Israel Philharmonic and the BBC Orchestra, a recording contract with RCA and an artist‐management 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 CC-BY-SA.

Emanuel Ax est un pianiste né le 8 juin 1949 à Lviv, en Galicie, annexée après la Seconde Guerre mondiale par l'Union soviétique. Né dans une famille juive, il commence le piano à 6 ans, et continue sa formation à la Juilliard School lors du départ de sa famille aux États-Unis. Connu du grand public depuis qu'il a remporté le premier prix du concours Arthur Rubinstein à Tel-Aviv en 1974, il remporte en 1979 le concours Avery Fischer Prize à New York et signe un contrat avec RCA Records. En 1987, il signe un contrat d'exclusivité avec Sony Classical et son premier album sous ce label remporte un Grammy Award. Il en gagne un second pour son enregistrement du Concerto pour piano n° 2 de Johannes Brahms, puis gagne 3 autres Grammy pour ses enregistrements avec Yo-Yo Ma, et encore un autre pour son Trio pour clarinette, violoncelle et piano de Brahms avec Yo-Yo Ma et Richard Stoltzman. Il fait une brillante carrière aux États-Unis, notamment avec les orchestres de New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphie, Cleveland; il vient cependant souvent en Europe, et s'est produit avec les orchestres de Londres, Saint-Pétersbourg, Oslo... Il fait une apparition, jouant son propre rôle, dans la saison 2, épisode 4, de la série Mozart in the Jungle. Source: Article "Emanuel Ax" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA.