This week's episode of the ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys hosted by the Classical Network's Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler pays tribute to the legendary pianist Mindru Katz (1925-1978) to mark what would have been his 100th birthday.
As a student at the Royal Academy of music in Bucharest, Katz was expelled because of the implementation of racial laws against Jews, and in 1943 was sent to a slave labor camp. After the war he was reinstated at the Academy and graduated with highest honors. In 1959 he defected from Romania to London, and eventually settled in Israel where he taught in Tel Aviv. On January 30th 1978 Mindru Katz suddenly died onstage during a recital in Istanbul, while playing Beethoven's "Tempest" Sonata.
This program features some of Katz's classic commercial recordings of works by Bach, Chopin, Fauré and Khachaturian.
Tune in to Between the Keys this Friday at 3:00 PM, with the rebroadcast Saturday at 6:00 PM, exclusively on The Classical Network and WWFM.org.
