Death of a much-recorded pianist, 89

Death of a much-recorded pianist, 89

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norman lebrecht

February 22, 2019

The Angolan-born Portuguese pianist Sequeira Costa, has died in Kansas, where he was professor since 1976. He recently recorded a cycle of Beethoven sonatas.

A student of José Vianna da Motta who was one of the last pupils of Franz Liszt, he won the Marguerite Long competition and sat on the jury of the first Tchaikovsky competition.

Bach, Beeethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninov were at the heart of his repertoire.

Comments

  • Fernando says:

    Very sad news! I grew up listening to his touching recording of Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Gunzenhauser and the Gulbekian Orchestra.

    • Andrew Swinnerton says:

      And I was very happy to be part of that recording ; I think the ‘Introduction and Allegro appassionato op 92 ‘ and the ‘op 134 ‘ on the same CD are also great value!

  • Fliszt says:

    To be accurate, he got 2nd prize in the Marguerite Long competition in 1951.

  • Harrumph says:

    He will be missed. A wonderful pianist.

  • Artur Pizarro says:

    Norman, Costa did not die of cancer as erroneously reported in various publications. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by family and close friends, of natural causes, specifically cardiac and respiratory failure while he was already in a coma. His health had been rapidly deteriorating after a steady decline of a few years.

  • Steve Riley says:

    I was Costa’s secretary and assistant for both him and The Vianna da Motta Music Foundation from 1997-2000. He taught me a lot about the business of music which helped me tremendously in my own musical career. I was saddened to learn of his passing a few years ago.

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