Dina Turgeman (4 October 1922 – 14 February 2014), was a German-born Israeli pianist and piano teacher.

Biography

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Dina Grossvogel Turgeman was born in Frankfurt, Germany. Her Polish-born art dealer family emigrated to Luxembourg.[1] She studied piano at the Luxembourg Conservatory, with Lucien Lambotte,[2] and at age 14 won „Premier prix avec grande distinction par 60 points“, (“first prize with distinction”).[3] A year later, February 24, 1938, she gave her first recital at the Luxemburg Casino playing works of Glinka, Balakirew, Ljadow, Glasunow and Arenski.[4]

She went on to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where she won „Premier prix avec distinction“ (First prize with distinction) in 1939.[4] She won first prizes in competitions and played in concerts that were broadcast across Europe.[5] During her studies she received the honor of Queen of Belgium's patronage.[6] During the Second World War in 1941, her family was on the list to be deported to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto (Łódź), [7] Turgeman and her family, with forged papers under the name ‘Dubois’ and assisted by Lucien Lambotte,[8] hid in a convent near Liege in Belgium, where she played the organ at Mass every morning.[9]

After the war she continued with her studies at the Brussels conservatoire,[10] and played numerous concerts, as soloist and chamber music, in Brussels and for the Luxembourg radio.[5]

In 1949, she immigrated to Israel.[11][12]

In 1950 she married Mordechai Turgeman, CPA, whom she met touring in Israel, .[13] They have two children, Professor Orit Pappo and Advocate Arik Ramot.

Music career

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Turgeman played as soloist and chamber music with musicians from Israel and abroad[14] [15] including Yitzhak Blassberger, Simcha Cheled, Georg Marton, Avraham Melamed, Nahum Pinczuk, Meir Rimon, Moshe Stieglitz, Arie Yisraeli[16] in a wide repertoire which included Bach, Beethoven, Brahms,[17] Britten, Chausson, Kodaly, Martinu[18] Mozart, Partos, Poot, Tchaikowski, Villa-Lobos as well as Belgian composers.[19] She taught students from all over the world who went on to Juilliard, the Metropolitan Opera and other musical institutions.[20]

Turgeman developed a unique teaching method that allowed musicians to reach their full potential, with a specific technical base of rebuilding the finger strength and efficient easy playing.[21] Among her students were Astrit Balzan, Leora Cohen, Mikael Eliason,[22] Ethan Globerson,[23] Revital Hachamoff,[23] Yehuda Inbar,[24] Nico Levi, Eytan Pessen, Irit Rimon Neidorff, Ayala Rosenbaum,[25] Adi Rosenkranz,[26] Zvi Semel and Michal Tal. She taught up to the age of 88.

Awards and recognition

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After her death in 2014 at the age of 91[27] the story of her curtailed career, deportation and post war antisemitism were featured in varied media in Luxembourg and Belgium.[28] [29] led by the historian Denis Scuto.[30][31] the Jerusalem Music Academy created a chamber music competition on her name.[32] [33]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Article by D. Scuto about the search for Dina Grossvogel (in German)
  2. ^ Lucien LAMBOTTE (Verviers 1888 - Spa 1969)
  3. ^ ‘’Escher Tageblatt’’ and ‘’des Luxemburger Wort’’ newspaper articles (in German) from the 1930s in the Archive of the city music conservatory in Luxembourg (‘’Städtischen Musikkonservatorium’’)
  4. ^ a b "Auf der Suche nach Dina" (PDF). orbilu.uni.lu (in German). 31 January 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Was bringt Radio Luxemburg diese woche?" (in German).
  6. ^ Grossvogel, Biographical material
  7. ^ Scuto Denis, La Commission administrative et le fichier juif de la Gestapo, Tageblatt, 19.11.2015, p. 2-5| newspaper article on the Gestapo list regarding the Grossvogel family (in French)
  8. ^ Grossvogel Family information
  9. ^ Archives général du Royaume, Police des étrangers, Dossier A40.085 (Jakob und Rosa Grossvogel|Immigration information and police records for the Grossvogel family (in French)
  10. ^ De Oliveira, Olivia Wahnon. "Le Conservatoire Royal De Bruxelles Pendant La Seconde Guerre Mondiale." Revue Belge De Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift Voor Muziekwetenschap 69 (2015): 283-304|about the Jewish students of the Brussels conservatory (in French)
  11. ^ "Tageblatt.lu - "Wir müssen die Fragen weiter vertiefen" %".
  12. ^ Wey, Claude (2017). "Jüdische Flüchtlinge in Walferdingen 1935-1942". Les traces ineffaçables de l'être humain. Éd. Binsfeld/Commune de Walferdange: 26–89. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  13. ^ Young pianists in Givataim, article in Hebrew
  14. ^ Concert information in National Library Jerusalem
  15. ^ Concert information in National Library Jerusalem
  16. ^ "דינה תורגמן - אברהם מלמד" [Dina Turgeman - Avraham Melamed] (in Hebrew).
  17. ^ Concert information in National Library Jerusalem
  18. ^ Concert information in National Library Jerusalem
  19. ^ vid=NNL_Ephemera&docId=NNL_Ephemera71234456910005171
  20. ^ Eytan Pessen, teatrwielki.pl
  21. ^ Interview with pianist Revital Hachamoff (in Hebrew)
  22. ^ Pianist, Curtis Institute Vocal department director
  23. ^ a b "השראה בפסנתר" (in Hebrew). 3 December 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  24. ^ "Yehuda Inbar • Pianisten-Biografie • C. Bechstein".
  25. ^ "Ayala Rosenbaum".
  26. ^ "שופטים | תחרות פנינה זלצמן".
  27. ^ ""Gitt dach zeréck a Polen, do ass elo vill Plaz..."". 26 May 2015.
  28. ^ ‘’Juifs : le Grand-Duché face à son passé’’- “Jews: the Grand Duchy faces its past”, article in Le Quotidiene in Luxumbourg (in French)
  29. ^ "Juifs : Le Grand-Duché face à son passé | le Quotidien".
  30. ^ "AfricaBrief".
  31. ^ "Open access - ORBilu - Université du Luxembourg".
  32. ^ "Competitions". 6 September 2018.
  33. ^ "The Dina Turgeman Chamber Music Competition 2018". 16 April 2018.