Gyorgy Sandor Passes Away At 93

Gone is another of the world's best pianists. Gyorgy Sandor died at the age of 93 from heart failure at his home in Manhattan. Sandor was a pupil of Bela Bartok and one of the biggest champions of the Hungarian composer's works. He also studied composistion with Kodaly at the Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary. He settled in the United States after his Carnegie Hall debut in 1939. He had a wide repertoire, but his best recordings were those of Bartok, Kodaly and Prokofiev. In 1965, he won the Grand Prix du Disque for his recordings of the piano music and concertos of Bartok. He premiered many of the works of Bartok including his Piano Concerto No. 3. He was also an influential teacher, having taught at Southern Methodist University, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and Julliard.