Piano Quartets

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Quartets


First name: Victor
Last name: Babin
Dates: 1908-1972
Category: Quartet
Nationality: American
Opus name: Pianoquartet
Publisher:
Peculiarities: l.b.
Information: Victor Babin was born in Moscow. Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin met in Berlin in 1933 while both studied with Artur Schnabel. They got married and soon thereafter formed the duo piano team of Vronsky & Babin, embarking on a career as duo pianists that took them all over the world. The duo piano team of Vronsky & Babin was once described by Newsweek magazine as "the most brilliant two-piano team of our generation". They were introduced to American audiences through their recordings of the piano music of Sergei Rachmaninov, who became their friend and mentor. Despite a break from performance during World War II during which Babin served in the Armed Forces and Vronsky worked with war casualties in Washington, D.C. hospitals, the duo still managed to perform over 1,200 concerts in North America alone. In 1961, Babin became Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where both he and Vronsky served on the Institute's faculty. Babin died in 1972.