Mieczysław Horszowski

Mieczysław Horszowski (June 23, 1892 – May 22, 1993) was a Polish and American pianist who had one of the longest careers in the history of the performing arts.

In 1911 Horszowski put his performing career on hold in order to devote himself to literature, philosophy and art history in Paris.

While Horszowski's family was of Jewish origin (which made him a fugitive from Europe in the 1930s), he was himself an early convert to Roman Catholicism, and was very devout.

Horszowski, who was barely five feet tall, had rather small hands, reaching just over one octave; however, Allan Kozinn of The New York Times noted that "he turned this limitation into an asset by focusing on music that was written on a more compact scale and made intellectual rather than physical demands".

Following the war, Horszowski frequently gave recitals with artists such as Casals, Alexander Schneider, Joseph Szigeti and the Budapest Quartet.

[6] His very diverse and extensive repertoire also embraced such composers as Honegger, d'Indy, Martinů, Stravinsky, Szymanowski and Villa-Lobos.

He also taught at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where his pupils included Robert Dennison, Julius Eastman, Richard Goode, Dina Koston, Anton Kuerti, Murray Perahia, Peter Serkin, Steven De Groote, Kathryn Selby, Cecile Licad, and Leslie Spotz.