Geoffrey Tozer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Geoffrey Tozer
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Geoffrey Peter Bede Hawkshaw Tozer |
| Born | 5 November 1954 Mussoorie, India |
| Origin | Australia |
| Died | 21 August 2009 (aged 54) Melbourne, Australia |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1962 – 2009 |
| Labels | Chandos Records |
Geoffrey Peter Bede Hawkshaw Tozer (born November 5, 1954 – died August 21, 2009) was an amazing Australian pianist and composer. He was a child prodigy, meaning he had incredible talent from a very young age. He even wrote an opera when he was just eight years old!
Geoffrey Tozer became the youngest person to win a Churchill Fellowship award at 13. This special award helps talented Australians travel overseas for study. His career took him all over the world, including Europe, America, Australia, and China. In China, he played the famous Yellow River Piano Concerto for about 80 million people. He knew over 100 piano concertos by heart, including works by famous composers like Mozart, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff.
Tozer recorded many albums for the Chandos label, starting with the music of Nikolai Medtner. People called him a "superb recitalist" because he was so good at performing. He could even make up music on the spot and play orchestral pieces on the piano just by looking at the score. He won many awards worldwide, but sadly, he wasn't always as recognized in Australia later in his life.
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Geoffrey Tozer's Early Life and Talent
Geoffrey Tozer was born in 1954 in Mussoorie, a beautiful hill station in the Indian Himalayas. His mother, Veronica Tozer, was a very talented musician and piano teacher. She taught music to support Geoffrey and his older brother, Peter.
When Geoffrey was three years old, he showed his amazing talent. He could pick out the notes of Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, which his mother was teaching to a student. This was a sign of his future as a piano star!
Later, Geoffrey moved with his family to Melbourne, Australia. There, his mother continued to teach him the works of great composers like Beethoven, Bach, and Bartók.
In 1962, when he was only eight, Tozer performed Bach's Concerto No. 5 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. This concert was even shown on national television! He played the Haydn Piano Concerto in D at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in 1965. Within four years, he had performed all five of Beethoven's challenging piano concertos.
Tozer's Musical Education and First Performances
Geoffrey Tozer learned from several important teachers. In Australia, he studied with Eileen Ralf and Keith Humble. He also trained with Maria Curcio in England and Theodore Lettvin in the United States. Eileen Ralf's teaching was especially important to him; an airline even flew him to her lessons for free every week!
At just 14, he became the youngest semi-finalist ever at the Leeds International Piano Competition. Soon after, he made his European debut at a BBC Promenade Concert in the Royal Albert Hall in London. He played with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He was also the youngest person to receive a Churchill Fellowship, a special award for talented Australians.
In 1971, when he was 16, Tozer spent several weeks with the famous composer Benjamin Britten. Britten invited him to perform at the Aldeburgh Festival, where he played alongside the renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.
Tozer performed at the opening concert of the Melbourne Concert Hall in 1982. In the early 1980s, he also taught at the University of Michigan in the United States. Later, he taught briefly at the ANU School of Music in Canberra, Australia, but his busy touring and recording schedule made it hard to continue teaching.
His first official recording was in 1986. He played John Ireland's Piano Concerto in E-flat major with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Many people still consider this the best recording of that piece.
Later Career and International Recognition
In the 1990s, a famous Russian pianist named Tatiana Nikolayeva visited Australia. She asked to meet Tozer, saying he "plays like a Russian." This was a huge compliment! In 1993, Tozer toured China for the first time, performing in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
In 1994, he made the first complete recording of the four piano concertos by Ottorino Respighi. He played with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
A big moment came in May 2001 when Tozer was the first Western artist to perform the Yellow River Concerto in China. This was a special invitation from the Chinese Ministry of Culture. His performance was broadcast live on Chinese national television and watched by an estimated 80 million people! He received a standing ovation, which means everyone stood up and clapped for a long time.
Tozer was known for supporting the music of composers who weren't as famous. He played works by Alan Rawsthorne, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Percy Grainger, among others. He also played and recorded the music of Artur Schnabel, a famous pianist and composer.
He also admired another talented Australian pianist, Noel Mewton-Wood, who had passed away. Tozer said Mewton-Wood was "the most stimulating and intellectually powerful pianist Australia has ever produced." Tozer even arranged some of Mewton-Wood's film music for solo piano.
Geoffrey Tozer was also a fantastic improviser. Sometimes, after a concert, he would ask the audience for themes or styles and then create new music on the spot! He could combine different styles, like Donizetti and Brahms, all at once.
In 2003, to celebrate composer Miriam Hyde's 90th birthday, the ABC radio station broadcast Tozer playing her music live. He even played one of her piano concertos for a small audience in 2005. Hyde herself said that her concerto needed someone with Tozer's power to play it.
After Tozer's death, former Australian prime minister Paul Keating spoke about how Tozer's talent wasn't always fully appreciated in Australia. Tozer had last played with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1994 and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1995.
Awards and Special Recognition
Geoffrey Tozer received many important awards throughout his life. He won his first Churchill Fellowship at 14 and a second one at 17. This was very rare, as the committee usually didn't give a second award so soon. They even lowered the minimum age for the award because of his amazing talent!
He also won Israel's Rubinstein Medal twice, in 1977 and 1980. The famous pianist Arthur Rubinstein himself gave Tozer the prize in 1977 and called him "an extraordinary pianist."
In the 1990s, Tozer received two Australian Artists Creative Fellowships, worth over A$500,000. These grants helped him focus on his music. Former Prime Minister Paul Keating started these fellowships because he felt that a pianist of Tozer's talent should not be earning so little money.
These fellowships allowed Tozer to travel to London and start his recording career. He recorded most of the solo piano works by Nikolai Medtner. His recording of Medtner's three piano concertos won a Diapason d'Or prize in 1992 and was nominated for a Grammy. These recordings are considered very important because they helped bring Medtner's music to a wider audience using modern recording techniques. A French critic called his Medtner recordings "a landmark in recorded history."
Tozer also received other international awards, including Hungary's Liszt Centenary Medallion and Britain's Royal Overseas League Medallion. However, he did not receive similar honors in Australia.
In 1996, his recording of piano works by Ferruccio Busoni won the "Record of the Year" prize in Australia.
Geoffrey Tozer's Passing
Geoffrey Tozer passed away on August 21, 2009, in Melbourne, Australia, after an illness. He was at the same house where he had lived as a child.
A public memorial service was held for him on October 1, 2009, at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne.
Paul Keating, the former Prime Minister, said that Tozer's death was a "massive cultural loss" for Australia. He compared Tozer to other legendary musicians like Glenn Gould and Maria Callas. Keating felt that Australia should have supported Tozer more during his life.
Tozer's Lasting Legacy
Geoffrey Tozer's amazing musical contributions are kept alive through the official Geoffrey Tozer Legacy website. This website is managed by his family and contains a huge collection of his work.
It includes over 12,000 documents, 750 recordings of his performances, and many interviews from around the world. There are also 3,000 photographs, films, videos, and all his awards. The collection also has 29 boxes of his music scores with his own notes, 1,500 music books from his personal library, and even his own drawings and paintings. Plus, there are more than 200 original compositions written by Tozer himself! This incredible collection helps everyone remember his extraordinary talent and dedication to music.
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