William Kapell - Biography

Biography

Kapell was born in New York City. His father was of Spanish-Russian Jewish ancestry and his mother of Polish descent. There he studied with Dorothea Anderson La Follette, then with Olga Samaroff in Philadelphia and at the Juilliard School.

Kapell won his first competition at the age of ten. The prize was a turkey dinner with the pianist José Iturbi. In 1941, he won the Philadelphia Orchestra's youth competition and the Naumburg Award. The following year, the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation sponsored the 19 year old pianist's New York début which brought him The Town Hall Award for the year's outstanding concert by a musician under 30. He was immediately signed to an exclusive recording contract with RCA Victor.

Kapell had achieved fame while in his early twenties, most especially by his performances of Khachaturian's Piano Concerto in D flat, his world premiere recording of which was an enormous hit. Eventually, he became so associated with the concerto that he was nicknamed "Khachaturian Kapell". Besides his exciting pianism, Kapell's good looks and mop of unruly black hair helped make him a hit with audiences.

By the late 1940s, Kapell had toured the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia to immense acclaim and was widely considered the most brilliant and audacious of young American pianists. On May 18, 1948, he wed Rebecca Anna Lou Melson, with whom he had two children. She was a fine pianist herself, being a student of Sergei Tarnowsky, whose other students included Vladimir Horowitz.

There was some tendency to typecast Kapell as a performer of flashy repertory. While his technique was exceptional, he was a versatile musician, and could also give memorably graceful performances of Mozart and Scarlatti. Kapell practiced up to eight hours a day, keeping track of his sessions with a notebook and clock. Kapell set aside time from his busy concert schedule to work with the artists he most admired, including Artur Schnabel, Pablo Casals, and Rudolf Serkin. He also approached Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz (who was a neighbor) for lessons, but they demurred. Horowitz later commented that there was nothing he could teach Kapell.

From August to October 1953, Kapell toured Australia, playing 37 concerts in 14 weeks, appearing in Sydney, Melbourne, Bendigo, Shepparton, Albury, Horsham and Geelong.