Zuzana Růžičková

Zuzana Růžičková (Czech pronunciation: [ˈzuzana ˈruːʒɪt͡ʃkovaː]) (born 14 January 1927) is an award-winning harpsichordist, whose work has garnered acclaim around the world. Born in Czechoslovakia, where she has lived her entire life, Růžičková is an interpreter of classical and baroque music. She was the first harpsichordist to have recorded Bach's complete works for keyboard. These recordings were made over ten years in the 1960s and 1970s for Erato Records, and were remastered and newly released in 2016 by Warner Records/Erato. She was the wife of the late Czech composer Viktor Kalabis. As a teenager, Růžičková was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps of Terezin and Auschwitz, and was then transported to the Bergen-Belsen death camp. She was liberated in April 1945 and returned to Plzeň later that year.

Both Růžičková and Kalabis refused to join the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia that held power from 1948 to 1989, and they were consistently harassed as a result. Růžičková performed across the world for 50 years; she made over 100 records; and taught such prominent musicians as Christopher Hogwood, Ketil Haugsand, Jaroslav Tůma, Monika Knoblochová, Vaclav Luks, and Mahan Esfahani.

At age 18, Zuzana returned to her hometown of Plzeň determined to dedicate herself entirely to pursuing a musical career. She studied piano with Bohdan Gsölhofer in Plzeň, and from 1947-51 she attended the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where her professors included pianists Albín Šíma, František Rauch and harpsichordist Oldřich Kredba. At this time she decided to specialize in the interpretation of early music and gave her first harpsichord recital in 1951. In 1956, she won the International Music Competition in Munich and accepted a scholarship from jury member Marguerite Roesgen-Champion () to continue her harpsichord studies in Paris.

...
Wikipedia