Performances + Events
The New England Conservatory community mourns the passing of pianist and emeritus faculty member Gabriel Chodos, who died on January 18. A distinguished performer and pedagogue, Chodos chaired NEC’s piano department for 25 years.
A winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition and a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, Martha Baird Rockefeller grants, and an NEA Solo Recitalists Grant, Chodos concertized in celebrated venues throughout the United States, Europe and Asia and gave master classes at venerable institutions around the world. His recordings, particularly of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, and Schubert, will forever resonate with audiences.
In The Secret Piano: From Mao’s Labor Camps to Bach’s Goldberg Variations, pianist Xiao-Mei Zhu ’83 MM, who studied with Chodos at NEC, wrote: “Of all of Gabriel Chodos’s lessons, one in particular stands out. He believed that it is through exhaustive exploration of a single piece of music that you deepen your knowledge of both the piano and of music, rather than by studying a range of different works. Many renowned scholars know that the most important discoveries are the result of long and in-depth study of a very specific topic. By doing so, you develop a method that can be applied to any subject.”
NEC Piano Department Co-Chair HaeSun Paik ’87, ’89 MM, ’92 AD said Chodos was a “big influence,” a “thoughtful department chair who built the department with integrity.” Piano Department Co-chair Bruce Brubaker said, “Gabriel Chodos was an extraordinary, sensitive musician. He also was an extraordinary, generous, and caring human being.”
A memorial event will be announced in the near future.
Photo by Christian Steiner
