Walter Hautzig

Walter Hautzig (born September 28, 1921, Vienna, Austria – died January 30, 2017) was an Austrian-born American pianist and teacher. He studied at Public and High School in Vienna, as well as at the Vienna Academy of Music. He left Austria after the rise of the Nazis to power, and went to Jerusalem and studied at the Conservatory there. In 1939 he came to the USA and made his debut at Town Hall in New York in October 1943. He became a naturalised American Citizen in 1945. During his long career as a concert pianist he gave recitals and orchestral appearances in over 50 countries, earning particular acclaim in Japan. In 1979, he was selected by the US State Department to represent the USA in the first visit of an American pianist to the People's Republic of China since the Cultural Revolution. Walter Hautzig was Professor of Piano at Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore from 1960 to 1987. He was a member of the American Association University Professors, and President of Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship Fund. His playing is known to record collectors through numerous discs issued by RCA, Monitor, Vox, Turnabout, Musical Heritage Society, Haydn Society, United Artists, Connoisseur Society and Americus. He also donated to the International Piano Archives at Maryland (IPAM) a substantial number of private recordings of his concert and recital appearances. He was also a contributor to Musical America, American Record Guide.