Michael Hambourg

Hambourg, Michael

Michael Hambourg. Piano teacher, b Yaroslav, Russia, 12 (Julian Calendar, 24) Jul 1855, naturalized Canadian 1910, d Toronto 18 Jun 1916. A pupil of Nicholas Rubinstein, he studied in Moscow and St Petersburg, graduated in 1879 from the St Petersburg Conservatory, and taught piano in Voronezh 1879-ca 1888 and, subsequently, until 1890 at the Moscow Philharmonic Conservatory. He settled with his family in London after the 1890 debut there of his 11-year-old son Mark (b Boguchar, Russia, 31 May [Julian Calendar, 12 Jun] 1879, d Cambridge 26 Aug 1960). Michael taught at the London Academy, at the Guildhall School of Music, and privately. In 1910 he moved to Toronto. The following year, with his sons Boris and Jan, he established the Hambourg Conservatory, of which he was director until his death. Mark, who was to be his most famous son, remained in England, but his international success as a concert pianist brought him occasionally to Canada. (Mark's daughter Michal, also a pianist, b London 9 Jun 1919, made her London debut in 1936.) Michael himself was a pianist of some repute but is remembered chiefly as a teacher and the head of a remarkable family. His pupils included George E. Boyce, Evelyn Chelew-Kemp, Caroline Danard, his sons Clement and Mark, Gerald Moore, Norman Wilks, Madge Williamson, and Gilbert Watson.