Tina Lerner (June 5, 1889 – February 26, 1973; in Cyrillic, Тина Лернер) was a Russian-American concert pianist born in Odessa.
Early life Valentina Osipovna Lerner was the daughter of Yiddish writers Osip Mikhailovich Lerner and Mariam Rabinovitch. She showed musical promise from an early age, in her birthplace, Odessa. She studied at Moscow Conservatory and with Leopold Godowsky, and began performing while still a teenager."Tina Lerner, a Gifted Pianist" Musical Courier (November 4, 1908): 16.
Career Lerner performed in Germany"Tina Lerner's Success" Musical Courier (September 30, 1908): 26. and England before she toured North America in 1908 and 1909, performing with orchestras in major cities, starting in New York with a concert at Carnegie Hall."Reflections by the Editor" Musical Courier (November 18, 1908): 21."New York Opinions of Tina Lerner" Musical Courier (December 2, 1908): 17.
She returned to perform in London in 1912,"Tina Lerner" Music News (November 1, 1912): 23. before embarking on her third American tour (1912–1913)."Tina Lerner" Music News (November 22, 1912): 10. "An audience that represented the wealth and culture of San Francisco went into ecstasies of delight over her remarkable playing of the Tschaikowski Concerto," according to the San Francisco Orchestra's manager, Frank W. Healy."Tina Lerner Arouses Furore" Music News (December 6, 1912): 23. Her fifth American tour commenced in 1917."Tina Lerner to Make Fifth American Tour" Musical Courier (June 7, 1917): 18. She toured in South America in 1922."Tina Lerner in Uruguay" Pacific Coast Musical Review (February 18, 1922): 1.
In 1917, she was one of the first pianists to give a concert over a radio telephone, when she played aboard a steamship in the Pacific Ocean in a concert that was transmitted to other steamships between San Francisco and Honolulu, on the occasion of George Washington's birthday."Tina Lerner's Music Sent Over Sea by Radio Telephone" Musical Courier (April 12, 1917): 60."Tina Lerner in Unique Feat" Musical America (April 14, 1917): 45.
Her performances of works by Chopin and Tchaikovsky were captured on piano rolls.Harold C. Schonberg, "Player Piano Nights: Masters Return" The New York Times (July 16, 1982).Joe M. Morris Piano Roll Collection, UNT Music Library. She lived in Syracuse, New York in the 1920s, and taught piano master classes at Syracuse University.Linda P. Kaiser, Pulling Strings: The Legacy of Melville A. Clark (Syracuse University Press 2010): 170, note 2. Shavitch and Lerner gave a concert together at the Hollywood Bowl in 1927.
Personal life Tina Lerner married twice, both times to musicians."Russian Pianist Tina Lerner, 1918" Charles "Tiny" Burnett photograph collection, University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division."Tina Lerner Takes Honolulu by Storm" Musical Courier (March 20, 1917): 43. She married Luis Bachner in 1909 and divorced him in 1915. She married conductor Vladimir Shavitch in 1915, a few days after her first marriage was officially ended."Pianist Marries Manager" Sacramento Union (November 21, 1915): 9. via California Digital Newspapers Collection The Shavitches had a daughter, Dollina, born in 1916."Tina Lerner's Daughter Showing Influence of Musical Heredity" Musical America (February 10, 1917): 17.
Tina Lerner was widowed when Vladimir Shavitch died in 1947;"Vladimir Shavitch" The Washington Post (December 27, 1947): B2. she was living in Florence, Italy, with their daughter by then."Shavitch Funeral Set for Monday" Palm Beach Post (January 3, 1948). via Newspapers.com"Former Dollina Shavitch Visits Syracuse" Syracuse Herald-Journal (July 31, 1939): 13. via Newspapers.com Tina Lerner's grave is in the Cimitero Monumentale della Misericordia at Antella, near Florence.
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