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Victor Babin: Born: December 13, 1908 - Moscow, Russia; Died: March 1, 1972
Vitya Vronsky: Born: 1909 - Kiev, Russia; Died: 1992 |
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Victor Babin was born in Moscow. Vitya Vronsky was born in Kiev, where she graduated from the Kiev Conservatory at the age of 13 and began a brilliant concert career as a soloist. She also studied with Alfred Cortot and with Egon Petri. Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin met in Berlin in 1933 while both studied with Artur Schnabel. They got married and soon thereafter formed the duo piano team of Vronsky & Babin, embarking on a career as duo pianists that took them all over the world.
The duo piano team of Vronsky & Babin was once described by Newsweek magazine as "the most brilliant two-piano team of our generation". They were introduced to American audiences through their recordings of the piano music of Sergei Rachmaninov, who became their friend and mentor. Their recordings were issued by RCA Victor, Columbia, Decca and EMI. Despite a break from performance during World War II during which Babin served in the Armed Forces and Vronsky worked with war casualties in Washington, D.C. hospitals, the duo still managed to perform over 1,200 concerts in North America alone. In 1961, Babin became Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where both he and Vronsky served on the Institute's faculty. Babin died in 1972, and Vronsky continued to teach and perform until her death in 1992. Vronsky and Babin are Steinway Immortals. |
