Gitta Gradova

Gitta Gradova (August 8, 1904 – April 26, 1985) was an American pianist.

Early life Gradova was born as Gertrude Weinstock on August 8, 1904 in Chicago, Illinois, US. The daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants to the United States, Identified as a musical talent in childhood she was already performing as a soloist in Chicago before her teens. Her teacher in Chicago from age 7 was Esther Harris Dua. Gradova was sent to New York at age 13, to study piano with Sergei Prokofiev.

Career At 19, Gitta Gradova performed with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1923. It was around this time that she adopted the stage name of "Gitta Gradova". "Miss Gradova is a pianist whose own brilliancy, accuracy, and forcefulness become a transforming medium for what she plays," wrote a Chicago critic in 1931. She toured in Europe in 1935, and was featured at the Chicago's outdoor Ravinia Festival in 1938 and 1941.

Although she retired from performing in 1942, she never stopped practicing daily at home; she taught piano, and played for guests and friends, according to her son. At the time of her death, she was planning a return to the concert stage, to play Rachmaninoff's First Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony under James Levine. Gitta Gradova died in 1985, aged 80, in Chicago. Several recordings of her playing, including a private 1950 recording of Gradova and Horowitz playing a Mozart piano duet, are now available online.