Artur Balsam Chamber Music Project
Artur Balsam, born in 1906, was a Polish-born American pianist and pedagogue. He studied at the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik, studying with Artur Schnable and Curt Boerner. His career was highly fruitful as the winner of the 1930 Berlin International Piano Competition and the prestigious Mendelssohn Prize in chamber music. Balsam has taught at the Eastman School of Music, Boston University, and the Manhattan School of Music with some of his students being Emanuel Ax, Murray Perahia, Mina Miller, Astrith Baltsan, and IU's own, Edmund Battersby.
Balsam was celebrated for his chamber music playing, frequently collaborating with David Oistrakh, Joseph and Lillian Fuchs, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the Julliard String Quartet. Throughout his career, Balsam has recorded over 250 works in solo and chamber repertoire, including the entirety of solo piano works by Haydn and Mozart, all Mozart sonatas for violin and piano with Oscar Shumsky, and all of Beethoven's violin and cello sonatas with Joseph Fuchs and Zara Nelsova.
The Artur Balsam Chamber Music Project is a continuation of the annual Artur Balsam Chamber Music Workshop, which has taken place in Wabash, Indiana since 2000. The purpose of the Project is to educate talented students from the Jacobs School who then present concerts connected with the Project. This funding is for the general support of the Artur Balsam Chamber Music Project, including faculty stipends, travel, advertising, recording, and general office expenses. Edmund Battersby, Professor of Piano at Jacobs, and respected mentor to many students, served as the director of the Artur Balsam Chamber Music Workshop for many years.