Rudolf Ganz

Rudolph Ganz (24 February 1877 Zurich – 2 August 1972 Chicago) was a Swiss-born American pianist, conductor, composer, and music educator.

Ganz studied cello with Friedrich Hegar, and piano with Robert Freund at the Zürich Musikschule. He also took composition lessons with Charles Blanchet at the Lausanne Conservatory . From 1897 to 1898, Ganz studied piano with Fritz Blumer in Strasbourg, and from 1899 to 1900 with Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin and Weimar and composition with Heinrich Urban in Berlin. On December 7, 1899, he made his piano debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; and on April 14, 1900, his conducting debut with this orchestra in the world premiere of his own Symphony No. 1 in E. In May, Florenz Ziegfeld, Sr. visited Berlin and invited Ganz to join the piano department of the Chicago Musical College. In August, Ganz moved to Chicago.

Ganz joined the piano department and became a member of the board of directors of the Chicago Musical College from fall 1900 through spring 1905. On March 20, 1903, Ganz made his American orchestral debut as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Theodore Thomas in the first Chicago performance of Vincent d'Indy's Symphony No. 1, at the Auditorium Theatre. On March 5, 1905, in a Chicago recital at the Music Hall, Fine Arts Building (Chicago), Ganz became the first pianist to perform Maurice Ravel's music (Jeux d'eau (Ravel)) in the United States (Harold Bauer played a first Boston performance of Jeux d'eau on 4 December 1905).

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