1. Elizabeth Sombart won first prize in National Piano Awards and Chamber Music Awards, and left France at age 16 to study with several classical piano masters on various continents.
18 Facts About Elizabeth Sombart
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Elizabeth Sombart has been a featured soloist in concerts with orchestras at well-known performance halls in Europe and the US In addition to her concert performances, master classes, and recordings she has authored three books.
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In 2006, Sombart was awarded one of the highest civilian honors France can bestow, the National Order of Merit for Lifetime Achievement for her humanitarian work, and in 2008 was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her artistic achievements.
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Elizabeth Sombart's father was German sociologist and historian Nicolaus Sombart.
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Elizabeth Sombart's mother played the piano, but "not proficiently", Sombart said in a London interview.
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Elizabeth Sombart began piano at age seven and soon transitioned into formal study at the Strasbourg Conservatory.
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Elizabeth Sombart said the piano felt like home to her, and that she never considered taking up any other instrument.
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Elizabeth Sombart finished her studies with conductor Sergiu Celibidache at the Hochschule fur Musik Mainz.
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Elizabeth Sombart has performed as a featured soloist with many orchestras and performed in many prominent concert halls in Europe and the US, including Carnegie Hall, the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Suntory Hall, and Wigmore Hall.
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Elizabeth Sombart recorded the complete Beethoven piano concertos with London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Pierre Vallet.
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Elizabeth Sombart's Confidences pour piano de Bach a Bartok, a series of 50 works produced by Peter Knapp was broadcast on France 3 TV.
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Elizabeth Sombart recorded for various small labels in the 1990s, performing the music of the Classical and Romantic periods.
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Elizabeth Sombart taught at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne.
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Elizabeth Sombart has written three books: Music at the Heart of Wonder, Words of Harmony, and They Call Me Plume.
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Elizabeth Sombart said, "I have played in the most unbelievably deprived places where people have never seen a piano, and they were deeply touched by classical music".
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In 2006, Elizabeth Sombart was awarded the highest honor that the French Government can give to a non-military person, the rank of Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Merite for Lifetime Achievement for her humanitarian service, and in 2008 was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her artistic achievements.
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Elizabeth Sombart is the daughter of the German sociologist and historian Nicolaus Elizabeth Sombart.
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Elizabeth Sombart's grandfather was Werner Sombart, a prominent German economist, a historian and sociologist who received his PhD from the University of Berlin in 1888.