Leo Sirota

Sources conflict on where Sirota was born in the Russian Empire. According to his students Joan Kelley Arison and Alexis Abaza, Sirota was born in Kamenets-Podolsky, Podolia Governorate. His daughter, Beate Sirota Gordon, said he was born in Kiev, Kiev Governorate. (Both birthplace locations are today part of Ukraine.)[2]

Sirota was born into a middle-class Jewish family; his father owned a clothing store. Sirota's siblings were all musically inclined, including his brothers Wiktor and Pyotr; the former became a conductor of operettas, the latter a pianist and arts manager.[3]

At the age of 5 Sirota began studying piano with Michael Wexler, who was then boarding with the family. Sirota's pianistic skill developed rapidly. Administrators at the school he attended regularly called upon him to play for visiting dignitaries.[4] In 1893, at the age of 8, Sirota performed his public debut recital. The renown he developed afterward was such that he eventually was invited to play for Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who was impressed enough to offer himself as teacher. His family declined the offer citing the child's age. Sirota later became a répétiteur for the Kiev Civic Opera, where he also accompanied visiting singers in recitals, including Feodor Chaliapin.[5]

The rise of anti-Semitic violence in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century moved Sirota to seek emigration. By 1904 his brothers had emigrated to Warsaw and Paris.[6] In 1905 Sirota entered the International Anton Rubinstein Piano Competition in Paris, but failed to win a prize. His fellow contestants were Otto Klemperer, Béla Bartók, Leonid Kreutzer, and Wilhelm Backhaus; the last two winning fourth and first prize respectively. Following the competition, Sirota decided not to return to Russia and, instead, remain in Western Europe.[7]

He worked as rehearsal pianist with the conductor Jascha Horenstein, whose sister, Augustine Horenstein, he married. Sirota's Vienna debut concert must have been a memorable occasion: it comprised the Mozart sonata for two pianos with Busoni playing the other piano, followed by the Busoni Piano Concerto, with Busoni conducting, and ended with the two piano version of the Liszt Don Juan Fantasy.

Sirota and his family settled in Japan in 1929, staying there for 16 years, teaching and giving recitals. He was a piano teacher of Minoru Matsuya (1910–1995) and Takahiro Sonoda (1928-2004). While in Japan, he championed Yamaha pianos against the prevailing fashion in Japan for Bechstein and Steinway instruments. During World War II, he and his wife were interned in Karuizawa, Nagano, while his daughter was safe in the United States.

After the Second World War he moved to America and taught in St. Louis. A local radio station frequently asked him to broadcast, and much of his surviving recorded output comes from the paper-based tapes that the studio gave to him after each broadcast. His repertoire was vast, including the complete works of Chopin, which he broadcast. His playing is characterised by a luminous tone and unfussy, almost fastidious interpretations, underpinned by an astonishing technique - his rendition of Rosenthal's arrangement of Chopin's minute waltz with the right hand in thirds was said to have astounded Arthur Rubinstein. Because his recorded legacy required specialised remastering, it is only recently that his stature as a pianist has been appreciated.

Sirota died in 1965.

His daughter was Beate Sirota Gordon.

• Evans, Allan (1998). "Leo Sirota, piano". Arbiterrecords.com. Archived from the original on 9 October 1999.
• "Leo Sirota: a Chopin recital". arbiterrecords.org. 6 June 2003. Retrieved 1 October 2017: a memoir of her father by his daughter, Beate.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Yamamoto, Takashi (2019). Leo Sirota: The Pianist Who Loved Japan. Translated by Bantock, Gavin; Inukai, Takao. Kashiwa: First Servant Books. ISBN 978-4-9910037-1-4.