Beveridge Webster

[1] In 1921, at the age of fourteen, he began five years of study in Europe, first at the American Academy at Fontainebleau,[1] then at the Paris Conservatory with Isidor Philipp and Nadia Boulanger.

[4] In 1968, over a three-concert series at The Town Hall, he commemorated the 50th anniversary of Debussy's death with the first complete survey of the composer's piano works in New York.

[2] Webster gave premieres or made first recordings of many contemporary works, including pieces by Louise Talma, Roger Sessions, Roy Harris, Aaron Copland and Elliott Carter.

"[1] In 1937, novelist Willa Cather attended a recital at New York’s Town Hall by Webster, and wrote him a brief letter praising his performance, "That was the third time I had heard you play the Schumann, and this week I thought there was a kind of larger freedom in your treatment and a careless care in shooting the rapids (a queer figure of speech, but if you’ve ever seen the Canadian canoe men shoot rapids, you will know that I mean something (not velocity) which I am unable to say in technical musical language).

[2] His students include Michel Block, Robert McDonald, Jahja Ling, Sylvia Glickman, Steven Graff and Hao Huang.