Peter Serkin

A descendent of one of the most prestigious families in classical music, Peter Serkin was born in Manhattan in 1947 and died in Red Hook, New York in 2020.  He carved a singular musical path for himself as a piano soloist even though, or perhaps because of his lineage.  His father was Rudolph Serkin, a titan of the romantic piano repertoire. His maternal grandfather was the renowned German-Swiss violinist and composer, Adolf Busch. Serkin was enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music at age 11 and began concertizing a year later, even performing Mozart’s Double Concerto alongside his father. Always a bit of a rebel, he stopped concertizing in his 20s, deciding instead to travel to Asia and all the while immersing himself in contemporary and popular music.  On his return in 1973, he co-founded the chamber group, Tashi (Fred Sherry, cello, Ida Kavafian,violin, Richard Stoltzman, clarinet) which focused primarily on contemporary compositions, reflecting Serkin’s lifelong love of modern and new music.

His final performance was with the Cincinnati Symphony on March 1, 2019 performing Igor Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Winds. He was a beloved teacher holding positions at Curtis.the Mannes School in New York, the Tanglewood Music Institute, the Juilliard School and Bard College. To quote Tim Page, the USC professor and Pulizer critic, “His self-effacing, warm personality was attested to by all who worked with him.  He was not only revered and respected – he was loved”. (Tom Huizenga, NPR “Remembering Peter Serkin, The Searching Pianist, Feb. 3, 2020).

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