65 Facts About Ronald Turini

Ronald Turini was born on 30 September 1934 and is a world renowned Canadian classical pianist.

Ronald Turini gave extended tours of many cities in Europe and the US as soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC, the San Antonio Symphony and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Ronald Turini performed concertos with conductors such as Wilfrid Pelletier, Sir Adrian Boult, Charles Munch, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Jean Martinon, Walter Susskind, Mario Bernardi, Igor Markevitch, Franz-Paul Decker, Antal Dorati, Leonard Slatkin, Arthur Fiedler, Maxim Shostakovich, Robert Shaw, and many others.

Ronald Turini performed recitals in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall.

Ronald Turini was a consistent performer and it was said that he almost never received a negative review from a music critic.

Ronald Turini is the first Canadian artist to win prizes at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition and the Geneva International Music Competition, both in 1958, and the 1960 Queen Elisabeth Competition, where he was acclaimed by juror Emil Gilels.

Ronald Turini was an acknowledged student of Vladimir Horowitz, and was known to be Horowitz' personally most highly regarded student.

Ronald Turini later accepted a professorship at University of Western Ontario and recorded chamber music with his colleagues at Western.

Ronald Turini's grandfather Giovanni Turini was a sculptor whose bust of Garibaldi, under whom he had served during the Italian war of unification, is a designated historical landmark in New York City's Washington Square.

Ronald Turini studied piano with his mother at a very young age and with Frank Hanson at the McGill Conservatory.

Hubert was known for developing strong technical skills, and her students, besides Ronald Turini, included Andre Laplante, Janina Fialkowska, Louis Lortie, and Marc-Andre Hamelin.

Ronald Turini made his debut as a soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Wilfrid Pelletier at the age of ten during WWII.

Ronald Turini graduated from the Conservatory at age 16 in 1950.

Ronald Turini retained a lifelong interest in high performance elite automobiles.

Ronald Turini entered the Mannes School of Music in 1953, where he studied with Isabelle Vengerova and Olga Stroumillo, who introduced him to Vladimir Horowitz.

Horowitz became a major influence on Ronald Turini, who studied with him from 1956 through 1965.

Horowitz would later comment that Ronald Turini was not "pushy" enough in promoting himself and his own performing career.

In 1958, Ronald Turini was awarded second prize at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, and along with Maurizio Pollini he was unanimously awarded a second prize at the 1958 Geneva International Music Competition.

Ronald Turini was awarded second place at the 1960 edition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Belgium.

Ronald Turini performed the Schumann Piano Sonata No 2 in G minor and the Liszt Piano Concerto No 1 with the National Orchestra of Belgium conducted by Franz Andre.

On 23 January 1961, Ronald Turini made his American debut recital at Carnegie Hall, playing sonatas by Schumann and Hindemith, etudes by Chopin and Scriabin, and pieces by Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Ravel and Scarlatti.

Ronald Turini made two appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show performing solo piano works which were broadcast nationally in both the US and Canada.

That same year of 1961, Ronald Turini performed the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at Plateau Hall in Montreal under music director Zubin Mehta, receiving praise for his "placid sensitivity" as well as his "passion and power".

In 1962, Ronald Turini participated in a major tour of Europe with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta and with soprano soloist Teresa Stratas, who sang arias from Verdi and Puccini operas.

Ronald Turini performed the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in Leningrad and Vienna and the Liszt Piano Concerto No 1 in Moscow and Paris.

Ronald Turini contracted to return to the Soviet Union the following season.

Ronald Turini performed in Moscow as soloist with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra and again in Leningrad in 1965, including a notable recital.

Ronald Turini performed in Montreal as soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in the seasons of 1953,1957,1958,1961,1969 performing the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 3 conducted by Charles Munch, in August 1972 performing both the Liszt Piano Concerto No 1 and the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 as part of the same concert, 1974 in the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 3 and in Ottawa's National Arts Centre the Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No 2 with conductor Franz-Paul Decker.

Ronald Turini appeared as soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1979.

In 1963, Ronald Turini toured cities in both the US and Canada including Detroit and New York City with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Susskind performing the Liszt Piano Concerto No 1.

In Britain, Ronald Turini was soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London conducted by Gunther Wich in 1966 performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 3.

In 1974, Ronald Turini gave a live recital broadcast on BBC Radio.

In that same season, Ronald Turini was soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in two live concerts, one of which was broadcast on the full BBC television network.

Ronald Turini appeared in 1974 with both the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jean Martinon with the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Volker Wangenheim performing the Beethoven Piano Concerto No 3 in three different locations.

Ronald Turini was soloist with the Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris.

Ronald Turini returned to Carnegie Hall in 1964 and again in 1967.

Ronald Turini made his Boston debut in 1969 for the Peabody Mason Concert series, returning in 1971.

In 1965, Ronald Turini made a recital disc for CBC broadcast.

In 1967, Ronald Turini toured in Canada for the Canadian Centennial celebrations, including in his recital programs the Variations for piano of prominent Canadian composer Jacques Hetu.

Ronald Turini performed at Expo 67 in Montreal at the Canadian pavilion in both a solo recital and as soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

Ronald Turini performed the Ginastera Piano Sonata No 1 in a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast in 1969.

Ronald Turini made three tours of Russia, three tours of South America, and two tours of Japan.

In 1968 he performed the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic conducted by Igor Markevitch, former music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, with whom Ronald Turini had collaborated in Montreal.

In 1963, Ronald Turini participated in his first tour of cities in the US with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Susskind, with concerts in Detroit, Buffalo, and New York City among others performing the Liszt Piano Concerto No 1.

Ronald Turini performed as soloist with US orchestras such as the Houston Symphony in 1965 with Georges Tzipine as conductor, performing Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Ronald Turini made many appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC in 1968 performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 3 and the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 in an extended tour of 26 concerts in US cities, including both Washington DC and at Philharmonic Hall in the Lincoln Center in New York City.

Ronald Turini performed as soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in its 1971 tour of both the US and Canada.

Ronald Turini appeared in 1970 with the San Antonio Symphony conducted by Carlos Surinach performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 2.

Ronald Turini was soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1967 with conductor Milton Katims and again in April 1973 with music director Robert Shaw in three performances of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1.

In 1975 Ronald Turini was soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin in the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 at Chicago's Symphony Center.

Ronald Turini appeared in Canada with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 1971 performing the Chopin Piano Concerto No 1, and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in 1975 performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 2.

In 1977 Ronald Turini performed the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec in Quebec City.

In 1984 Ronald Turini performed the Liszt Piano Concerto No 1 with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

In 1986 Ronald Turini performed a recital in Montreal featuring virtuoso piano transcriptions of Verdi, Schubert, Bach and Schumann by Franz Liszt.

In 2011, Ronald Turini toured with the Lafayette String Quartet performing the Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor.

Ronald Turini had given an acclaimed recital at University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada in 1971.

Ronald Turini reportedly disliked the continuous travel and hotels of international concert life, and he began teaching at Western in 1977, where he was Professor of Piano and later Professor Emeritus of piano performance until his retirement in 2008.

In January 1979, Ronald Turini performed the Brahms Piano Concerto No 2 with the London Symphony Orchestra of London, Ontario, Canada conducted by music director Clifford Evens.

Ronald Turini was a founding member of Quartet Canada, together with his fellow Faculty of Music colleagues at University of Western Ontario, Steven Staryk, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, and Gerald Stanick.

However, Ronald Turini did not contract to record for the major British or European record companies.

In 1968, Ronald Turini was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance, for his recording of the Hindemith Sonata for Viola and Piano with Walter Trampler, released as RCA Victor Red Seal LSC 3012.

In July 1969 at the Orford Arts Centre at Mount Orford in Quebec, Ronald Turini recorded the Schumann Piano Quintet Op.

In 1972 Ronald Turini's recording of piano works of Schubert, Ginastera, and Rachmaninoff was released as RCA LSC-3145.

Ronald Turini was a founding member of Quartet Canada, together with his fellow Faculty of Music colleagues at University of Western Ontario, recording many piano quartets.

In 1993, Ronald Turini recorded the Brahms Sonata for Clarinet and Piano Op.