Annerose Schmidt

Annerose Schmidt (5 October 1936 – 10 March 2022) was the professional name used by Annerose Boeck, a German pianist. She received official recognition as a concert pianist from what later became the East German state in 1948, which was the year of her twelfth birthday.

Life Annerose Boeck was born in Wittenberg, Saxony, Prussia, Germany, a town a short distance to the north of Leipzig, Saxony, which then as now was venerated for its association with Martin Luther. Her father was the director of the music school, and started teaching her the piano in 1941. She gave her first public concert in 1945, and in 1948 received a concert diploma and a professional permit as an officially recognised concert pianist in what was known, at that time, as the Soviet occupation zone.

In 1955 she received an honorable mention at the V International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. The next year she herself won at the All Germany Piano Competition. Also in 1956 she won the first ever Robert Schumann International Competition for Pianists and Singers, held at Berlin.

Awards and honours

1961 Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic 1964 Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau 1965 National Prize of the German Democratic Republic 1966 City of Leipzig Arts Prize 1971 Patriotic Order of Merit in Bronze 1984 National Prize of the German Democratic Republic 1985 Béla Bartók Prize 2003 Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany