Zak, Yakov Izrailevich

He was born on November 7 (20), 1913 in Odessa (now in Ukraine ).

He graduated from the Odessa College of Music ^[1] (now the Odessa College of Arts and Culture named after K. F. Dankevich ). In 1930 - 1932 he studied in the special piano class at the Music and Drama Institute. L. van Beethoven (now Odessa National Music Academy named after A. V. Nezhdanova ) with M. M. Starkova , as well as with N. N. Vilinsky ^[2] in the class of special harmony and polyphony, studied the chamber ensemble under the guidance of P. S . Stolyarsky . In 1932-1935 he improved at the School of Higher Artistry of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of G. G. Neigauz .

The first concert of the pianist took place in 1935 , in the same year he won the third prize at the II All-Union competition of musicians. He gained world fame by winning the III-rd International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (he was also awarded a special prize for the best performance of the composer's mazurkas ).

In addition to solo performances, he played in an ensemble with the Quartet of the Bolshoi Theater and in a piano duet with E. G. Gilels ^[3] .

He has toured the USSR and abroad (Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Finland, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Brazil, Portugal, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, etc.).

Since 1935 he taught at the Moscow Conservatory (since 1947 - professor , since 1965 - head of the piano department). Among his students are N. A. Petrov , T. G. Smirnova , E. K. Virsaladze , S. O. Navasardyan , E. G. Mogilevsky , V. P. Afanasyev , V. Bakk, K. Iliesku, T. L. Koloss, G. G. Mirvis, A. K. Cherkasov, P. G. Kvernadze, L. B. Timofeev and others.

He was a jury member of many competitions, including the F. Chopin International Piano Competition (1955, 1960).

Member of the CPSU (b) since 1943 .

He died on June 28, 1976 in Moscow. He was buried at Kuntsevsky cemetery .

• Laureate of the 2nd All-Union competition of musicians-performers (1935, Leningrad , 3rd prize)
• Laureate of the III International F. Chopin Piano Competition (1937, Warsaw , 1st prize, special prize for performing mazurki - F. Chopin's death mask).
• People's Artist of the RSFSR ( 1964 )
• People's Artist of the USSR ( 1966 )
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (12.28.1946)
• Two orders "Badge of Honor" (04/27/1937, 07/09/1954)
• Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
• Medals.

The game of J. Zack is characterized by virtuosity, a delicacy of approach to the work and artistic depth. Possessed a huge repertoire. He is the first performer of many works by Soviet composers, including the first concert for piano and orchestra E. K. Golubev , the concert for piano and orchestra Yu. A. Levitin , the third sonata of D. B. Kabalevsky , the third sonata of V A. Bely , suites for piano by M.V. Koval , M.I. Chulaki and other authors.

The pianist’s repertoire also included the works of L. van Beethoven , F. Chopin , F. Schubert , I. Brahms . He also performed rarely sounding works (including all piano concerts by N. K. Metner ).

The pianist also recorded the compositions of S. Prokofiev , S. Rachmaninov , M. Ravel , S. Vasilenko .

Peru Y. Zack owns a number of articles and methodological works on piano performance - “On some issues of the education of young performers”, “Meetings and memories”, articles on the work of Soviet pianists - M. Yudina , R. Tamarkina , G. Neigauz, V. Sofronitsky , D. Oistrakh and others.

• Jacob Zack Articles, materials, memories. - M., Soviet Composer, 1980.
• Stupakova O., Mirvis G. Pedagogical views of J. I. Zack. // Questions of piano performance. - M.: Music, 1968.
• Tsypin G. Yakov Zak // Soviet music. - 1975. - No. 8.
• Chernikov O. Spikes and roses // Music and time. - 2003. - No. 5.
• Chernikov O. Royal and the voices of the great - Phoenix, 2011 .-- 224 p. (Series: Music Library) ISBN 978-5-222-17864-5 .

• Merkulov A. Lessons from Zach. - M.: Classic-XXI, 2006