Gerecke, Kurt

Concert pianist

born: 28.04.1901 in Zorge (Südharz, today district, Osterode)

died: 26.09.1999 in Habscheid (Eifel)

Gerecke studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, including with Emil von Sauer (1862-1942), a pupil of Franz Liszt, with whom Elly Ney also studied and with whom he occasionally performed. Other teachers included Raoul Koczalski (1885-1948), who was considered the best Chopin interpreter of his time, and Wilhelm Kempff (1895-1991). Before his time in Wiesbaden, Gerecke worked in Magdeburg and Halberstadt. As an interpreter of the world premiere of Max Seeboth's (1904-1967) Piano Concerto in D minor, a work commissioned by Magdeburg's General Music Director Erich Böhlke (1895-1979), he achieved considerable success, as reported by the Zeitschrift für Musik in 1941.

From 1948 until old age, he taught the piano master class at the Wiesbaden Conservatory. Many of today's well-known pianists and teachers, such as Stanislava Kantcheff, Thomas Duis, Beate Reber-Berthold and Matthias Zimmermann, passed through his school.