Maria Curcio

Maria Curcio (27 August 1918 or 1919 – 30 March 2009) was an Italian classical pianist who became renowned as a greatly influential and sought-after teacher. Her students included Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Dame Mitsuko Uchida, Myung-Whun Chung, Leon Fleisher, Rafael Orozco, Christopher Elton, Barry Douglas and Geoffrey Tozer. She was the last student of Artur Schnabel and she passed on his teachings to her own students.

Maria Curcio was born in Naples in 1918, to an Italian father and a Jewish-Brazilian mother, also a pianist who had studied with a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni. She was playing by age three, and at age seven was taken to Rome to play for Benito Mussolini, but refused to do so. She was tutored at home to leave more time for practising, but she did not have a happy childhood, as she was pushed into accepting too many engagements too soon, and there was no time to play or have friends.Ottorino Respighi invited her to give a recital at his house. She was accepted to the Naples Conservatory at age nine, receiving her degree by 14. Her mother arranged for her to study with Alfredo Casella and Carlo Zecchi (a pupil of Artur Schnabel) in Italy, and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. She also studied with Artur Schnabel himself from age 15; he did not normally take young pupils, but his son Karl Ulrich persuaded him to audition her. When he did so, he described her as "one of the greatest talents I have ever met". When Schnabel was on tour, she had lessons with Fritz Busch.

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