Background
Lazar Naumovich Berman was born on February 26, 1930, in Leningrad, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (now Saint Petersburg City, Russian Federation). He was the son of Naum and Anna (Makower) Berman.
2000
Lazar and Valentina Bermany
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory
the Moscow Conservatory
Pavel Berman - violinist and conductor - son of Lazar Berman
Commemorative plaque on the grave of Lazarus Berman
Lazar Naumovich Berman was born on February 26, 1930, in Leningrad, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (now Saint Petersburg City, Russian Federation). He was the son of Naum and Anna (Makower) Berman.
Lazar Naumovich was first noticed while participating in city young talent competition. The jury under the chairmanship of Leonid Nikolaev noticed the child's "rare exceptional case of musical and piano skills". Now, after being officially given the title "prodigy" at the age of four, he started studying with Leningrad State Conservatory (now The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory) professor, Samariy Savshinsky.
In 1939 when Lazar Naumovich was nine, the family moved to Moscow so that he could study with Aleksandr Goldenweiser, first at Central musical school, and then at the Conservatoire (now The Moscow Conservatory), where he graduated from in 1953. The following year he made his formal debut playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25 with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1941, students, pupils, and parents were evacuated to Kuibishev (now Samara), a city on the Volga, because of World War II. Living conditions were so poor that his mother had to cut the fingers from a pair of gloves to allow him to continue to practice without freezing his hands.
At the age of 12 Lazar Naumovich played Franz Liszt's La campanella to a British audience over the radio. In 1956 became a laureate of two international piano competitions: Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Belgium, with Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Franz Liszt in Budapest, Hungary. As a result of these accomplishments, Berman was offered an international tour, and landed a recording deal, which included recordings of Liszt's sonata and Beethoven's "Appassionata". In 1958, he performed in London and recorded for SAGA.
From 1959 to 1971 Lazar Naumovich was not allowed to travel abroad due to his marriage to a French national (the marriage soon fell apart). He continued to tour around Soviet Union, and did some recordings at "Melodia" studio.
From mid 1970s Lazar Naumovich was again allowed to tour abroad, which he did to high acclaim. He was not generally well known outside Russia before his 1975 American tour, organized by the impresario Jacques Leiser. Lazar Naumovich lived in a tiny two-room apartment in Moscow, with a grand piano occupying an entire room. But after his 1975 tour, he was immediately in great demand, with Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, and CBS vying to record him. He recorded the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto with Herbert von Karajan, as well as broadcasting it on international television with Antal Doráti, to mark United Nations Day in 1976.
In 1980, at the height of his popularity, Lazar Naumovich again was barred from leaving the Soviet Union. This time it was because a book by an American writer (censored in the USSR) was found in his luggage while he was passing custom in Moscow's airport. In August 1990 he left USSR for Norway, followed by final relocation to Italy, where he became a teacher. Four years later he became Italian citizen, and the following year he got invited to Musical School of Weimar, Germany, where he continued teaching until 2000. He often performed along with his son, violinist Pavel Berman.
Lazar Naumovich died in 2005, survived by his third wife, Valentina Sedova, also a pianist, and their son, talented violinist and conductor Pavel Berman.
In 1968 Lazar Naumovich married Valentina Sedova and in 1970 their son, Pavel, was born.