William Beller

Education

Beller studied piano (i) 2 years with Arthur Lord Justice Frazier (1881–1973), (ii) with Howard Wells in Chicago, (iii) with Tobias Matthay and, (iv) in 1926, with Josef Lhevinne in New York under a Juilliard fellowship.

Career

He was deemed a musical prodigy when he was 4 years old. He had also taught piano at the Bronx House Music School in the 1930s. When Beller arrived in New York, he was represented by National Broadcasting Company Artists Service (aka National Broadcasting and Concert Bureau), George West. Engles (1890–1963), Managing Director, Radio Corporation of America Building, New York City.

1930–1935 (summers) — As a visiting professor, Beller taught piano in Dallas (Dallas Conservatory of Music and Fine Arts), Denton (Texas Woman"s University), and Fort Worth (Fort Worth Conservatory) during the summers.

1934 (summer) — Beller and Joseph Brinkman (1901–1960) gave a four-week series of lecture-recitals on Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, and Ravel as part of a graduate seminar at the University of Michigan 1919–?? — Professor, Marquette University Conservatory of Music (organized as a conservatory in 1911). Fall 1941–?? — Faculty member, and eventually chairman of the piano department, Columbia University Beller also taught piano in Hartford, Ann Arbor, and Chicago.

Beller also maintained a private studio at Carnegie Hall. In 1925, while in Chicago, Beller worked for Lyon & Healy and was a Duo-Art artist.

Achievements

• 1925 — Winner, Piano, National Federation of Music Clubs. Each biennium, the Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs sponsored a contest for young artists and student musicians, in all classes of music, piano, voice, violin, organ, and cello. The winners of the contest compete with winners of the same contest from Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. And the winners from that district appear in the finals at the meeting of the National Federation, a composed of twelve districts of the United States. Beller won the National competition in Portland, Oregon, which included a $500 prize. 1925 — Winner, Mason and Hamlin Prize, thereupon presented as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1926 — Awarded a Juilliard Fellowship with Josef Lhévinne.