Max Egger

 

As a music major at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Tomoko had the opportunity to study with several famous musicians, including Max Egger. He performed, composed, and taught piano. His most famous recording was his memorial album, released in 2018, ten years after he died.

Tomoko was not the only Japanese pianist to study with him.

Pianist Kiyoko Takeuti was born in Tokyo, and Max Egger was one of her early teachers; she later joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as its pianist.

Japanese pianist Yuko Ninomiya studied with Max Egger at the High School Division of Toho School of Music. A few years she received a Fulbright scholarship to study at Juilliard, where she won several competitions. After touring in Europe and the US, she returned to Japan to perform and teach, including at the Toho School of Music where her studies began.

Still another Japanese pianist,, Kiroko Miyake Dutton, studied with Max Egger at Kobe College. She performed in the major Northeastern US cities, German, and Japan. At this point, she has more then 45 years of experience in piano instruction.

Swiss pianist Margrit Weber studied piano under Max Egger at the Zurich Conservatory. As a professional piano performer, she toured Europe, Canada, and the US. IN 1960 she performed Stravinsky’s Movements for piano and orchestra under the composer’s direction.

Another student of Max Egger’s at the Zurich Conservatory was Swiss musician Jean-Jacques Hauser. After successfully competing in several piano competitions, he taught at the Bellinzona City Piano School.

Another pianist who studied with Max Egger in Zurich was the American Warren Thew, who also taught a solo class at the Zurich Music Academy at the same time. He enjoyed giving concerts on old music played on original instruments of the time. Besides recording a number of works, Thew was a composer, arts, and poet.

German musician Peter Feuchtwanger studied piano with Max Egger, and later transitioned from performance to composing and teaching.

Like Max Egger, Tomoko has a long career of performing and teaching, and has several classical album recordings.

Celebrants of Culture

On May 5, 1997, Tomoko played piano compositions for the poetry of Hojo Nakajima. Singers and musician with Western and Japanese performed her in this evening of music celebration, held at the San Francisco Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Hojo Nakajima was in Fukuoka, Japan, born two years earlier than Tomoko. He was Chamberlain to the Crown Prince and part of the Imperial Household Agency. His first poetry anthology was published in 1990.

The history of  the San Francisco Palace of the Legion of Honor begins earlier in the century. A replica of Paris’s Palaise de la Légion d’Honneur was constructed by the French for the 1915 San Francisco Panama Pacific International Exposition. At the end of the exposition, the French government sugar magnate Adolph Spreckels to build a permanent ¾ sized replica, which was completed in 1924. Spreckel’s wife, Alma, wanted the city to have a new art museum, so the family donated it to the city of San Francisco, in memory of WWI California military casualties. In 1995 the museum was renovated to make it seismic safe, and was enlarged in the process to handle more exhibits and services.

Since the beginning, the museum has been located in Lincoln Park, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. IT collects ancient and European art, and houses the largest collecxtion of works on paper in the western United States. The museum’s Spreckels gallery also contains a symphonic organ, which is played every Saturday for concerts; another space holds the Gunn Theater, which is a venue for chamber music concerts.

Tomoko’s performance was held in that theater, and Tomoko likely saw the original Palaise when she visited Paris as part of her time as a contestant at the Long-Thibaud International Piano Competition, thirty years before her performance at the San Francisco Palace.

All of these people and places reflect celebrated the international world of culture, and we are their beneficiaries.

The Golden Spring of 1965

Spring 1965 was a golden season for Tomoko in her musical life.

In February she was featured on KTVU television channel, playing one of her winning pieces from the San Francisco Symphony Foundation Audition program. She was chosen by Maestro Josef Krips for her impeccible performance.

In the same month she made her Peninsula debut at Foothill College in Appreciation. She was sponsored by Japanese Searking Society of America.

In March she performed with the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra in Roosevelt High School's auditorium. She won the 1965 Young Artists Award, along with baritone David Tenbrook and violinist Kodjian). These awards were made possible by the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra and the Junior League of Fresno.

In April Tomoko performed with two violinists, Kathleen Lenski and Linda Ashworth in San Francisco's Auditorium. Their concert was one of the musical series sponsored by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and its Association Foundation for its members.

Then in June Tomoko played at her own graduation, followed by her graduation recital two weeks later.

This season was indeed propitious, and foretold Tomoko's energy and dedication to the piano. Her spirit has not faded over the years.