Maria Curcio

Maria Curcio (27 August 1918 She was playing by age three, and at age seven was taken to Rome to play for Benito Mussolini, but refused to do so. but at the outbreak of World War II, she was in Amsterdam, where she had followed Schnabel's secretary Peter Diamand, and where she performed frequently. However, during the German occupation of the Netherlands from 1940, when Jews were banned from playing in public, she turned down all offers of engagements in protest (Diamand was Jewish). She was appointed visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music, University of London.

She and her husband divorced in 1971 after he had a relationship with Marlene Dietrich. She spent her last few years in Porto, Portugal, where she died in March 2009, aged 90.

BBC Scotland made two films about Maria Curcio in the 1980s: Music in Camera: Maria Curcio – Fulfilling a Legacy and Maria Curcio – Piano Teacher. A documentary of her life, Music Beyond Sound, was made by her student Douglas Ashley in 1993. Martha Argerich Michel Block Evelyne Brancart Myung-whun Chung Jean-François Heisser Ian Hobson Mitsuko Uchida.