Death of a much-recorded pianist, 89
mainThe 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.
Very sad news! I grew up listening to his touching recording of Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Gunzenhauser and the Gulbekian Orchestra.
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!
To be accurate, he got 2nd prize in the Marguerite Long competition in 1951.
Long was his teacher. I thought he won 1st prize at her 2nd competition.
Ciccolini tied with Yankoff for 1st prize at Mme. Long’s 2nd competition in 1949. Janine Dacosta won 1st prize in 1951, with Sequeira Costa in 2nd place.
Fliszt is correct Norman.
He will be missed. A wonderful pianist.
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.
Thanks, Artur. Promptly corrected.
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.