Death of famed piano prof
RIPFormer pupils have reported the death of Niel Immelman, professor of piano at the Royal College of Music in London , and elsewhere.
Neil was 78.
South African born, he studied in London with Cyril Smith, Ilona Kabos and Maria Curcio. Bernard Haitink spotted him while still a student and gave him a concerto debut with the London Philharmonic.
He went on to record the complete works of the Czech composer Josef Suk.
Amit Yahav writes: I’m devastated today by the news of Niel Immelman’s passing. Niel was my teacher at the Royal College of Music when I first came to study there, and remained a close personal friend for more than a decade and a half since. He has been a steadfast support through this entire period, and his loss is a terrible shock.
I last saw Niel a month ago, when I went to play to him ahead of my tour of South Africa, his native land. The first concert of the tour was in Bloemfontein (his hometown) playing Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto with the Free State Symphony Orchestra. I know he was very excited about it, and I was looking forward to sharing the recording and press review of that concert with him. I can only hope he would have been proud.
Niel had a special gift not only for music, but for the art of teaching. I learnt from Niel to “study” (he preferred that word to the word “practise”) and to analyse technical difficulties and engineer solutions to them. A trip to his home in Wimbledon Park always felt like a pilgrimage, and he always had incredible anecdotes to share. Through his own teacher, Cyril Smith, he was a bridge to Rachmaninoff. I’m so fortunate to have studied two of the concerti with him.
He is survived by his sister Jeanita and her children, and by all those of us whom he touched as a teacher, a musician and a friend.
Very sad news. Neil accompanied the violinist Mark Butler in a recital at our church back in the mid 1970s. He was outstanding and extremely modest. My condolences to his family.
I attended a master class of his as a student while he was visiting professor at the Moscow Conservatoire during the early 1990s. He was charming, funny, always patient, kind and very eloquent. RIP.
Niel was my teacher when I was at Oxford University. He was a really great teacher and I loved my lessons with him – he transformed my playing and I will always be grateful to him. RIP
I will never forget my one and only encounter with Immelman, when he was the external panellist for one of my assessments during my time as a student at the Royal College of Music Junior Department. In this particular assessment, I played a virtuosic prelude by Frank Martin, in a performance marred by my right foot making excessive noise in the course of the pedalling. Upon the conclusion of my performance, Immelman’s first response was simply a request for me to “put down the pedal… and bring it back up”. That, of course, I managed to accomplish without making an almighty racket, and thus his point was made constructively, concisely, clearly, and very memorably.
Neil Immelmann was my piano teacher at the Royal College of Music from 1980-84. He was a wonderful teacher and as a second study pianist, gently encouraged me to become a much better pianist so that I could use those skills accompanying students over the years.….I absolutely loved studying Brahms intermezzos and Rachmaninov Preludes with him amongst much other repertoire. He was honest but also extremely positive and humorous and I always felt so lucky to be studying with him.
Tragically I have always been meaning as an adult to write to him and let him know what joy my piano playing has always given me and what a huge help he was on my journey as a musician. Sincere condolences to all his family. His legacy certainly lives on. Liz May
Very sad to read this. Niel was a wonderful pianist, musician and teacher – also a loyal friend. We met while studying with Maria Curcio. The world has lost a kind and talented soul.
I am deeply saddened to see this news of Niel’s passing. I had the good fortune to study with him while at the Royal College Junior Department in the late 1970s/early 80s. He was a wonderful teacher and I have many fond memories of him. He tended to tell me what work was coming next but I did once request to learn something I had chosen. His response was that the piece was like a cream cake, lovely but wouldn’t do me any good! We did it anyway. He not only taught me a great deal about playing the piano but also perspectives on life which I have shared with my own children. What a wonderful human being. My condolences to his family. May he rest in peace.
Such an inspiring, thoughtful and kind teacher; some of us had the immense good fortune to be taught by Neil in the sixth form at Mary Datchelor Girls’ School, Camberwell, in 1969-1970. RIP.