{{Short description|Italian pianist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} '''Maria Curcio''' (27 August 1918<ref name=telegraph>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/5121311/Maria-Curcio.html Telegraph, 7 April 2009]</ref><ref name=times/><ref name=liverpool/> or 1919<ref name=guardian/>{{spaced ndash}}30 March 2009) was an Italian classical pianist who became a sought-after teacher. Her students included Barry Douglas, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Mitsuko Uchida, Evelyne Brancart, Myung-Whun Chung, Leon Fleisher, Rafael Orozco, Christopher Elton, Hilary Coates, Simone Dinnerstein, Massimiliano Mainolfi, Matthew Schellhorn and Geoffrey Tozer. She was the last student of Artur Schnabel and she passed on his teachings to her own students.
==Biography== Maria Curcio was born in Naples in 1918, to an Italian father and a Jewish-Brazilian mother, also a pianist who had studied with a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni.<ref name=times>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100524143255/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6163906.ece 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, but refused to do so.<ref name=telegraph/><ref name=times/><ref name=church/> 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.<ref name=guardian/> Ottorino Respighi invited her to give a recital at his house.<ref name=times/> She was accepted to the Naples Conservatory at age nine, receiving her degree by 14. Her mother arranged for her to study with Alfredo Casella and Carlo Zecchi (a pupil of Artur Schnabel)<ref name=times/> in Italy, and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.<ref name=telegraph/><ref name=guardian/> She also studied with Artur Schnabel himself from age 15; he did not normally take young pupils, but his son Karl Ulrich persuaded him to audition her.<ref name=telegraph/> When he did so, he described her as "one of the greatest talents I have ever met".<ref name=guardian/> When Schnabel was on tour, she had lessons with Fritz Busch.<ref name=guardian/>
She made her London debut in 1939,<ref name=liverpool>[http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/obituaries/2009/04/09/obituary-maria-curcio-92534-23346377/ Liverpool Daily Post, 9 April 2009]</ref> but at the outbreak of World War II, she was in Amsterdam, where she had followed Schnabel's secretary Peter Diamand, and where she performed frequently. However, during the German occupation of the Netherlands from 1940, when Jews were banned from playing in public, she turned down all offers of engagements in protest (Diamand was Jewish).<ref name=guardian/> 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.<ref name=times/> She became a victim of malnutrition and tuberculosis, unable to even walk properly, let alone play.<ref name=telegraph/> 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 wanted to record with her, but by the time he died in 1954 she still had not recovered sufficient strength.<ref name=telegraph/> She did, however, finally return to playing; she collaborated with such artists as Benjamin Britten, Carlo Maria Giulini, Szymon Goldberg, Otto Klemperer, Josef Krips, Pierre Monteux and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.<ref name=guardian/> Her last performance was in 1963. She then turned to teaching and giving master classes. She also coached singers at Josef Krips's request when he conducted the Netherlands Opera.<ref name=guardian/>
In the meantime, Peter Diamand had been appointed director of the Edinburgh Festival and they had moved to the UK. She served on the jury of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 1966,<ref name=telegraph/> and on the jury of the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition in 1978.<ref>[http://www.concursodepianodesantander.com/C_Concursos_Premiados.aspx Winners, members of the jury and artistic guests] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014152124/http://www.concursodepianodesantander.com/C_Concursos_Premiados.aspx |date=14 October 2014 }}, Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition</ref> She was appointed visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music, University of London.<ref name=telegraph/> She played privately with Sir Clifford Curzon, who had introduced her to Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and their circle in 1947.<ref name=telegraph/><ref name=times/> She often played four-hand piano music with Britten.<ref name=church>[http://michaelchurch.livejournal.com/1673.html Michael Church] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091226032037/http://michaelchurch.livejournal.com/1673.html |date=26 December 2009 }}</ref>
She and her husband divorced in 1971 after he had a relationship with Marlene Dietrich. She spent her last few years in Porto, Portugal, where she died in March 2009, aged 90.
BBC Scotland made two films about Maria Curcio in the 1980s: ''Music in Camera: Maria Curcio – Fulfilling a Legacy'' and ''Maria Curcio – Piano Teacher''.<ref>[http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/magazines/international_piano/features/int_piano_features.asp?css=1 International Piano] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125141038/http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/magazines/international_piano/features/int_piano_features.asp?css=1 |date=25 November 2009 }}</ref> A documentary of her life, ''Music Beyond Sound'', was made by her student Douglas Ashley in 1993.<ref name=telegraph/> He also wrote a book of the same name.<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/27106067 WorldCat]</ref><ref name=ashley/>
==Students== Maria Curcio's students came from many countries, and included:
{{div col|colwidth=22em}} *Pierre-Laurent Aimard<ref name=guardian>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/apr/14/obituary-maria-curcio The Guardian, 14 April 2009]</ref> *Martha Argerich<ref name=telegraph/><ref name=guardian/> *Douglas Ashley<ref>[http://spinner.cofc.edu/music/bio/ashley.html College of Charleston, Music Department] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615044124/http://spinner.cofc.edu/music/bio/ashley.html |date=15 June 2010 }}</ref> *Thomas Bartlett<ref>[http://www.observer.com/2010/daily-transom/program-cultural-highlights-march-17-23 The Observer] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616143133/http://www.observer.com/2010/daily-transom/program-cultural-highlights-march-17-23 |date=16 June 2011 }}</ref> *Peter Bithell *Michel Block<ref name=ashley>[http://www.douglasashley.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=31 Douglas Ashley, Classical Pianist]</ref> *Evelyne Brancart *Pietro Maranca *Angela Brownridge<ref>[https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A278 Hyperion Records]</ref><ref>[http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/brownridge.htm Angela Brownridge] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814014805/http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/brownridge.htm |date=14 August 2007 }}</ref> *Myung-whun Chung<ref name=guardian/> *Rae de Lisle *Simone Dinnerstein *Barry Douglas<ref name=telegraph/><ref name=guardian/> *Christopher Elton *Hilary Coates *José Feghali<ref name=guardian/> *Brian Finley *Leon Fleisher<ref name=guardian/> *Claude Frank<ref name=guardian/> *Peter Frankl<ref name=guardian/> *Alan Gampel *Frank Glazer<ref name=ashley/> *Anthony Goldstone<ref name=guardian/> *Suzanne Goyette *Folke Gräsbeck *Albert Guinovart *Sam Haywood<ref>[https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A2427 Hyperion Records]</ref> *Jean-François Heisser<ref>[http://www.medici.tv/#/magazine/archive/news/2009-04/0/ medici.tv]</ref> *Ian Hobson<ref name=guardian/> *Niel Immelman *Terence Judd<ref name=guardian/> *Angela Kim<ref>[http://www.webconcerthall.com/interview/angelajk.htm Web Concert Hall] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311002434/http://www.webconcerthall.com/interview/angelajk.htm |date=11 March 2009 }}</ref> *Vedat Kosal *Dalia Lazar (her last student) *Eric Le Sage *Radu Lupu<ref name=telegraph/><ref name=guardian/> *Tessa Nicholson {{citation needed|date=February 2020}} *Rafael Orozco<ref name=guardian/> *Alfredo Perl<ref name=telegraph/> *Lenia Erodiadou *Massimiliano Mainolfi *Matti Raekallio *Matthew Schellhorn *Ignat Solzhenitsyn<ref name=telegraph/> *Yevgeny Sudbin *Sergio Tiempo *Hugh Tinney<ref name=guardian/> *Geoffrey Tozer<ref name=guardian/> *Inon Barnatan<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nyphil.org/about-us/artists/inon-barnatan|title=Inon Barnatan|accessdate=2015-01-09|publisher=New York Philharmonic}}</ref> *Mitsuko Uchida.<ref name=telegraph/><ref name=guardian/> *Douglas Weeks<ref>[http://www.converse.edu/about/directory/douglas-weeks The Petrie School of Music at Converse College] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429030638/http://www.converse.edu/about/directory/douglas-weeks |date=29 April 2012 }}</ref> *Misato Yokoyama<ref>[https://www.classicalconnect.com/misato_yokoyama_/8079 Classical Connect [https://wikitia.com/wiki/Misato_Yokoyama Wikitia]</ref> {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curcio, Maria}} Category:1910s births Category:2009 deaths Category:Italian music educators Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Piano educators Category:Pupils of Artur Schnabel Category:Musicians from Naples Category:20th-century Italian classical pianists Category:20th-century Italian musicians Category:Italian women music educators Category:Italian women classical pianists Category:20th-century Italian women pianists