She also gave the USA premiere ( Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Antal Doráti) and the Canadian premiere (CBC Montreal studio performance by the CSM under Désiré Defauw) in 1947, repeating the work in 1951 with the CSM and in 1953 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
1, giving the premiere (1946) in Rio de Janeiro under the composer's direction. Long a friend and admirer of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, Ellen Ballon performed many of his works and commissioned his Concerto No. She returned to North America before the war and eventually settled in Montreal. She gave private recitals for Princesses Beatrice and Helena Victoria at Kensington Palace, appeared in public recital (eg, International Celebrity Series, 1936-1937), and toured in Great Britain and Scandinavia. She began her first major European tour in 1927, appearing with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, and Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, and then settling in London.
However, she continued her studies with Alberto Jonas in New York until at least 1925 and appeared again with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1925-1926, 1929-1930, and 1932-1933 seasons.
4, January 31, 1921), she was a fully developed concert pianist. She continued her studies in New York with Josef Hofmann and in Vienna with Wilhelm Backhaus, and when she returned from Europe to play with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Josef Stransky ( Camille Saint-Saëns’ Concerto No. In 1912 President Taft invited her to perform at the White House (she returned to play for President Roosevelt in 1934 and for President Eisenhower in 1954). Beethoven (C major) with the New York Symphony Orchestra under Walter Damrosch. Following a farewell recital at Royal Victoria College in Montreal on December 27, 1906, she was sent to New York to study with Rafael Joseffy (her patrons were the Canadian prime minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and the principal of McGill University, Sir William Peterson).Įllen Ballon was a child when she made her New York debut in March 1910, playing concertos of Felix Mendelssohn (G minor) and L.v. Artur Rubinstein is said to have declared her 'the greatest pianistic genius I have ever met'. As a child Ballon was praised by Josef Hofmann (whose pupil she became later, in Switzerland and again in New York), Adele aus der Ohe, and Raoul Pugno. She studied there with Clara Lichtenstein. She was a child prodigy and at the age of 6, in the inaugural year of the McGill Conservatory (1904), won the first director's scholarship awarded at that school. But you can be sure that I'll be on the lookout for more.The Canadian pianist, Ellen Ballon, was born in Montreal of Russian parents. There is a Bach Prelude transcribed by Siloti and a complete recording of the f minor concerto by Chopin. She commissioned and premiered his first piano concerto in 1946 in Rio de Janeiro under the composer's direction and gave the American and Canadian premieres as well. I have been able to find several pieces by Villa-Lobos to whom Ellen Ballon was a friend and champion. The few recordings we have to listen to are insufficient to get a really good sense of her playing. That virtually no one I know has ever heard of her is a shame.
#Child piano prodigy on ellen plus#
That she was a pianist of great significance over a span of a 50 plus year career is of no doubt. She was invited to the White House to play for President Taft (1912), Roosevelt (1934) and Eisenhower (1954). She played with the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony, Concertgebouw, and Suisse Romande orchestras. The list of conductors with whom Ellen Ballon played is a veritable who's who of 20th century conductors: Antal Dorati, Désiré Defauw, Walter Damrosch, Josef Stransky, Ernest Ansermet, and Sir Ernest MacMillan, inter alia. She continued her studies with Hofmann in New York, and subsequently with Wilhelm Backhaus in Vienna. She was a child when she made her New York debut in 1910, playingĬoncertos of Mendelssohn (G minor) and Beethoven (C major) with the New She was sent by the Canadian Prime Minister to study with Rafael Joseffy in New York. Artur Rubinstein is said to have declared her "the greatest pianistic genius I have ever met". ELLEN BALLON (1898-1969) Canadian pianistĮllen Ballon was a child prodigy, praised by no less a luminary than Joseph Hofmann whose student she later became.
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