Ronald Turini (born 30 September 1934) is a world renowned Canadian classical pianist.
Turini was the first Canadian artist to win prizes at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition and the Geneva International Music Competition, both in 1958, and the 1960 Queen Elisabeth Competition, where he was acclaimed by juror Emil Gilels. He was an acknowledged student of Vladimir Horowitz, and was known to be Horowitz' personally most highly regarded student.
Turini performed internationally with prominent orchestras such as the Leningrad Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, the London Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He appeared with the Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris. Turini gave extended tours of many cities in Europe and the U.S. as soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C., the San Antonio Symphony and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Turini performed concertos with conductors such as Wilfrid Pelletier, Sir Adrian Boult, Charles Munch, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Jean Martinon, Walter Susskind, Mario Bernardi, Igor Markevitch, Franz-Paul Decker, Antal Doráti, Leonard Slatkin, Arthur Fiedler, Maxim Shostakovich, Robert Shaw, and many others.
He performed recitals in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall. Turini was a consistent performer and it was said that he almost never received a negative review from a music critic.
Turini later accepted a professorship at University of Western Ontario and recorded chamber music with his colleagues at Western.
Early life Born in Montreal, Quebec, to an Italian-American father and a Danish-Canadian mother, Turini's father was an artist and his mother was a musician. His grandfather Giovanni Turini was a sculptor whose bust of Garibaldi, under whom he had served during the Italian war of unification, is a designated historical landmark in New York City's Washington Square.Washington Square Park. Garibaldi. https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/washington-square-park/monuments/571Ronald Turini. https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=1719874C4F6D0A4A&id=1719874c4f6d0a4a%215789&parId=1719874c4f6d0a4a%215782&o=OneUp
Turini studied piano with his mother at a very young age and with Frank Hanson at the McGill Conservatory. At age nine he began studies at the Montreal Conservatory of Music where he was taught by Yvonne Hubert, Germaine Malépart and Isidor Philipp. Hubert was known for developing strong technical skills, and her students, besides Turini, included André Laplante, Janina Fialkowska, Louis Lortie, and Marc-André Hamelin. Turini made his debut as a soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Wilfrid Pelletier at the age of ten during WWII.M. Wilfred Pelletier revient aux Matinees. https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=1719874C4F6D0A4A&id=1719874c4f6d0a4a%215676&parId=1719874c4f6d0a4a%21209&o=OneUp He graduated from the Conservatory at age 16 in 1950. For a couple of years he considered devoting himself to automobile engineering, but he finally decided on a career as a pianist. He retained a lifelong interest in high performance elite automobiles.
Turini entered the Mannes School of Music in 1953, where he studied with Isabelle Vengerova and Olga Stroumillo, who introduced him to Vladimir Horowitz. Horowitz, who accepted few pupils, was sufficiently impressed to accept Turini as a student. He would later remark that Turini possessed the most brilliant two-handed runs of any pianist.The Secret Career of Horowitz. Glenn Plaskin. https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=1719874C4F6D0A4A&id=1719874c4f6d0a4a%21948&parId=1719874c4f6d0a4a%21934&o=OneUpPlaskin, Glenn. Horowitz, a biography. Quill. Horowitz became a major influence on Turini, who studied with him from 1956 through 1965. Turini's lessons with Horowitz could extend to three hours in length, if Horowitz became interested in the results. The great pianist acknowledged only Byron Janis, Gary Graffman, and Turini as his eminent students, and Turini was known to be Horowitz' personally most highly regarded student. Horowitz would later comment that Turini was not "pushy" enough in promoting himself and his own performing career. Horowitz assisted in obtaining Turini's management contract with Columbia Artists Management (CAMI).
Career Competitions and debut In 1958, Turini was awarded second prize at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy. That same year, and along with Maurizio Pollini, he was unanimously awarded a second prize at the 1958 Geneva International Music Competition.
Turini was awarded second place at the 1960 edition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Belgium. He performed the Schumann Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor and the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1Ronald Turini 1960 Queen Elisabeth Competition with Audio recording of the Schumann piano sonata and Liszt concerto performances. https://queenelisabethcompetition.be/en/laureates/ronald-turini/137/ with the National Orchestra of Belgium conducted by Franz André. Following the Brussels competition, jury member Emil Gilels wired to Horowitz, "Congratulations, "Professor", your Turini is wonderful."Ronald Turini.https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=1719874C4F6D0A4A&id=1719874c4f6d0a4a%21732&parId=1719874c4f6d0a4a%21327&o=OneUp
On 23 January 1961, Turini made his American debut recital at Carnegie Hall, playing sonatas by Schumann and Hindemith, etudes by Chopin and Scriabin, and pieces by Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Ravel and Scarlatti. The audience included notable musicians such as Artur Rubinstein, Leonard Bernstein, Walter Toscanini, Rudolf Firkušný, and many pianists. Rubinstein was the first to congratulate Turini after the recital. The reception after the concert was hosted by Horowitz and his wife at their apartment. The next day, New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg characterized Turini as "resplendent", adding that "in addition to technical expertness, there was a quality of aristocracy to the performance." The positive critical reaction to his Carnegie Hall debut was consistent with Turini's subsequent career, and it was said that he almost never received a negative review from a music critic.
Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and European tours That same year of 1961, Turini performed the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at Plateau Hall in Montreal under music director Zubin Mehta, receiving praise for his "placid sensitivity" as well as his "passion and power". In 1962, Turini participated in a major tour of Europe (Leningrad, Moscow, Vienna, Paris) with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta and also with soprano soloist Teresa Stratas, who sang arias from Verdi and Puccini operas. He performed the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in Leningrad and Vienna and the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 in Moscow and Paris. Following the performances and a suddenly-arranged recital in Moscow, Soviet pianist Emil Gilels described Turini as "a great artist".Ronald Turini. https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=1719874C4F6D0A4A&id=1719874c4f6d0a4a%211405&parId=1719874c4f6d0a4a%211399&o=OneUp The Vienna Kurier 7 May 1962 music review by Herbert Schneiber stated that in the Rachmaninoff work Turini's "manner of playing is full of charm, stylish shades and poetical atmosphere."Vienna Kurier 7 May 1962. https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=1719874C4F6D0A4A&id=1719874c4f6d0a4a%215563&parId=1719874c4f6d0a4a%21314&o=OneUp His performance of the Liszt concerto in Paris was described in Le Figaro as "literally dazzling, of exceptional taste, finesse, and brilliance."Provincial Newsletter, B.C. Registered Music Teachers’ Association, Fall 2005. https://bcrmta.bc.ca/archive/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Fall-2005.pdf
Turini contracted to return to the Soviet Union the following season. In the 1962/1963 season he performed the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Leningrad Philharmonic, the foremost orchestra in the Soviet Union, the audience requesting further encores until Turini could no longer continue. He performed in Moscow as soloist with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra and again in Leningrad in 1965, including a notable recital.
In 1966, he performed the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in Brussels, Belgium with Mehta and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and also toured throughout France and Switzerland with this work and the orchestra.Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/montreal-symphony-orchestraorchestre-symphonique-de-montreal-emc He also performed in Montreal as soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in the seasons of 1953, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1969 performing the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 conducted by Charles Munch, in August 1972 performing both the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 as part of the same concert, 1974 in the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 and in Ottawa's National Arts Centre the Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2 with conductor Franz-Paul Decker. He toured with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1976 performing the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducting, beginning in Carnegie Hall, N.Y. and then in France and Britain (including venues in Paris, London, and Edinburgh) and Prague, Czechoslovakia.Senza Sordino June 1976. https://www.icsom.orgRonald Turini. Queen Elisabeth Competition. https://queenelisabethcompetition.be/fr/laureats/ronald-turini/137/ Turini also appeared as soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1979, performing the Grieg Piano Concerto at Montreal's Place des Arts,The Canadian Ecyclopedia. Ronald Turini. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ronald-turini-emc acclaimed by critic Eric McLean as a "splendid performance".The Canadian Ecyclopedia. Ronald Turini. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ronald-turini-emc
In 1963, Turini toured cities in both the U.S. and Canada including Detroit and New York City with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Susskind performing the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1.Houghton University. https://dspace.houghton.eduRonald Turini: Forward and Upward. https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=1719874C4F6D0A4A&id=1719874c4f6d0a4a%21812&parId=1719874c4f6d0a4a%21209&o=OneUp In 1968 he achieved an acclaimed performance of the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Otto-Werner Mueller. Of this performance, one music writer stated that "..rapid passagework is dispatched with apparent ease, with masterful highlighting of key motifs and voices that are often overlooked by pianists who emphasize the virtuosic aspects of these passages. His left hand voicing is incredible."The Piano Files at 13. https://www.thepianofiles.com/the-piano-files-at-13/ In 1972 he was again soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa, the former music director of the orchestra.