The world has parted ways with Alexis Weissenberg, one of the most significant figures in twentieth-century piano music. The news of the death of the pianist was announced by his relatives and friends on January 8.
Weissenberg died after a long illness in Lugano, Switzerland. To those who knew him, he remained a man of exceptional culture, an unforgettable mentor, friend and unique musician. The sad news, spread by the news agencies, went around the world, and with that, the main moments of his life and career were also recalled. Bulgaria, his homeland and Pancho Vladigerov, his piano and composition teacher – these two moments are invariably present now in every publication on the subject. A pianist with a huge repertoire – from JS Bach to Igor Stravinsky, a person who speaks more than 6 languages, with a wide knowledge of other arts and with ideas on how to get young people into the concert hall! A life full of difficulties, but also with moments of triumph, and among influential artists his fate connects him with Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Schnabel, Wanda Landowska, Vladimir Horowitz, Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa. He played for the Bulgarian audience for the first time in the early 1970s, and for the last time he was in his homeland in 2007, when he became an Honorary Doctor of the “P. Vladigerov” Academy of Arts. A pianist of whom his younger colleagues today say: “It was a privilege to know him”. And everyone else who knows his journey from the “Juilliard School” in New York to Paris and the triumphant concerts given over the years in Europe and America, can now remember another part of him – his collages donated to the “Bulgaria” hall . Alexis Weissenberg said: “I have remained a Bulgarian at heart” and so he remained in the souls of Bulgarians. Tribute to his memory.
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