1934 Birth of American pianist Van Cliburn in Shreveport Louisiana. As a child was taught by his mother, in 1958 was the first American to win the Tchaikovsky Prize in Moscow.

​1941 - Death of Polish statesman, pianist, and composer Ignace Jan Paderewski in New York City at age of 80.

1824 -13 year old Franz Liszt performs a demonstration of the new Piano Forte invented by Sebastian Erard, at Drury Lane in London.  

1986 - Premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's piano Concerto. Marc-André Hamelin, soloist with Detroit Symphony, with Günther Herbig conducting.  Enjoy a recording of this historic performance by clicking here. 

1824 - Birth of German pianist, composer, conductor and teacher Carl Reineke in Altona (Hamburg), Germany . He died in Leipzig on March 10, 1910. He was the director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra concerts in Leipzig for three decades, and professor of composition and piano at the Conservatorium.

1946 - Birth of American pianist André Watts in Nuremberg, Germany. He currently serves as Professor of Music in Piano as the Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. In 2014, he was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. 

1757 Birth of Austrian piano manufacturer and composer Ignaz Joseph Pleyel in Ruppertsthal, Austria. He died in Paris, on November 14, 1831. The Pleyel company later supplied pianos to Frédéric Chopin. Although he was quite a popular composer in his day, his music quickly fell into obscurity. 

1881 - The player piano was patented by John McTammany, Jr. of Cambridge, MA. Shown is a Chase & Baker player piano, Buffalo, NY, USA, circa 1885.

1982 Birth of Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang in Shenyang, Liaoning, China.

Birth of Russian-American pianist and conductor Boris Goldovsky. Died in Brookline, Massachusetts on February 15, 2001. Texaco offered him a weekend job as Master of Ceremonies covering the intermission periods of the Texaco-sponsored Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts.

1941 - Birth of Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich. What is your favorite performance? 

1846 - Debut of pianist Camille Saint-Seans in Paris. YouTube has a video of him playing his Valse Mignonne if you are curious!  

It was a great day for the birth of piano makers! 1757 - Birth of Austrian piano maker Ignaz Joseph Pleyel near Vienna. 1826 - Birth of piano maker - F. W. Bechstein in Gotha.

1910 - Death of Russian composer Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev at age 73 in Petersburg. In the late-1850s and early 1860s Balakirev brought together the composers known as The Russian Five (or the Mighty Handful) that included Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Balakirev was...

1938 Birth of American composer and pianist William Bolcom in Seattle, Washington. He taught at the University of Michigan for 35 years. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. Perhaps the most-played piano composition is...

1923 - Birth of Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha in Barcelona.  She died on September 25, 2009 at the age of 86. Our editor's pick? Her recording of the Schubert little A Major Sonata, Op. 120 (D 664).

1924 - Premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds  at the Paris Opéra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, with the composer at the piano. It was written specifically for the Koussevitzky Concert series. Strains of Petroushka can be heard in the first movements. There is a magnificent recording of this piece on YouTube pl...

1958 John Cage's Piano Concerto published. The premiere was held at New York's Town Hall. Cage consulted the I Ching while compositing the concerto, which includes catcalls, noise from the piano, and attempts to elicit audience applause early with false endings according to AllMusic.com

Death of composer and pianist Fanny Mendelssohn from complications of a stroke. Many of her compositions were published under her brother's name, Felix Mendelssohn. 

1965 - Pianist Vladimir Horowitz returns to the concert stage in New York City after a twelve-year performing break, at Carnegie Hall. The audience applauded with a standing ovation that lasted for 30 minutes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQqLRmxzr5g