Paul Ulanowsky

Paul Alexander Theodore Ulanowsky (March 4, 1908, Vienna – 1968) was an Austrian-American pianist, accompanist, vocal coach, and music educator of Austrian and Ukrainian descent. He began his career as the pianist for the Vienna Philharmonic from 1927 to 1935. He then embarked on a long career as an accompanist, notably enjoying a particularly close relationship with soprano Lotte Lehmann during the last fourteen years of her career. He played in concerts with many of the world's best singers and instrumentalists during the 1940s and 1950s.

Ulanowsky lived in the United States from the late 1930s on. He began a highly successful teaching career in the 1950s, serving on the faculties at the Berkshire Music Center and Boston University. During the 1960s he was active as a teacher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Yale School of Music.

Born in Vienna, Ulanowsky's father was from the small village of Mokraya Kaligorka in Central Ukraine. His father had worked as an opera singer at the Prague State Opera before moving to Austria where he was honored with the title of Kammersänger. His mother, Lili Glaubauf, also had a career as a classical singer and had studied voice with his father before the couple married in 1906. As a young child Ulanowsky began learning music from his parents and before the age of 10 was already accompanying his mother and his father's students in performances.

From 1924 to 1926, Ulanowsky received his formal training at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna with pianist Severin Eisenberger and composer Joseph Marx. He also took private lessons in violin and viola. After earning a diploma in piano performance, he pursued graduate work at the University from 1926 to 1930 in musicology, composition, and conducting where his instructures included Guido Adler, William Adler, and Rudolf von Ficker. He earned diplomas in composition and conducting in 1930 at which time he was offered a conducting post in Poland; an offer he declined. He was later honored with an honorary doctorate from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

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