Born on February 12, 1851. Anna Yesipova would make her debut in Saint Petersburg in 1871, attracting rave reviews as well as the admiration of such luminaries as Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Franz Liszt. Her concert tours would, in 1876, bring her to the United States where her playing was enthusiastically received as well.
Acclaimed for her seemingly effortless virtuosity and singing tone, Yesipova is thought to have been first pianist to program the complete set of Frédéric Chopin's Preludes, Op. 28 in a recital, for a concert in 1876—and the year 1880 would take her to London's Covent Garden and also to Lisbon, where she had a very warm reception.
In 1885, Yesipova was appointed Royal Prussian Court Pianist. From 1893 to 1908, she was professor of piano at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where her students included Sergei Prokofiev, Leff Pouishnoff, Sergei Tarnowsky, Maria Yudina, Leonid Kreutzer, Isabelle Vengerova, Anastasia Virsaladze, Leo Ornstein, Isidor Achron, Thomas de Hartmann, and Alexander Borovsky.
On Thursday afternoon's Classical Music With Foley Schuler, on the 175th anniversary of the pianist's birth, well enjoy several of her piano roll recordings that have been preserved, as well as music for piano by her most celebrated student, Sergei Prokofiev—and much more.
You can hear Foley Schuler's musical selections—and stories behind the music—every weekday afternoon from 1 until 4 on Blue Lake Public Radio.
