Gina Bachauer

Gina Bachauer was born in Athens on 21 May 1910, into a family of Austrian and Italian background. She studied at the Athens Conservatoire with Woldemar Freeman, then continued in Paris with Alfred Cortot. She also took lessons with Sergei Rachmaninoff, whose music became part of her performing world. Her Athens Conservatoire archive and the Greek National Opera give 1910; some biographies give 1913.

In 1935 she appeared in Athens under Dimitri Mitropoulos. During the Second World War she lived in Alexandria and gave hundreds of concerts for Allied troops. After the war, appearances in London with conductor Alec Sherman helped her international career develop. A New York appearance followed in 1950. Her touring brought repeated collaborations with the Utah Symphony and its conductor Maurice Abravanel.

Greece remained part of that career. She served on the Greek National Opera’s board during the 1960s and played at the Athens Festival. On 8 September 1974 she performed Grieg’s Piano Concerto at the Herodeon in a concert supporting Cyprus. She died in Athens on 22 August 1976, before another scheduled Herodeon appearance. The Athens Conservatoire holds her archive, including concert programmes, correspondence, photographs and her diploma. These documents connect an international performer with the Greek institution where she first studied and later taught.

Bachauer’s art was interpretation at the keyboard. Her recorded repertoire includes concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin and Grieg, alongside solo music by Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky. These are works by their named composers, brought to life through her choices of sound, balance and phrasing. The breadth of this repertoire reaches beyond the Romantic concertos often associated with her name.

A surviving television recording makes one Greek performance especially concrete. At the Herodeon on 8 September 1974, Bachauer played Grieg’s Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, with the EIRT Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Fournier. The concert, Προσφορά στην Κύπρο (Offering to Cyprus), brought several soloists together in support of Cyprus. ERT preserves her complete concerto performance within an edited concert document. Its camera shows the pianist working with an orchestra in the open-air setting of Athens.

Her archive adds the paper history behind appearances and recordings. The Conservatoire’s catalogue lists photographs, letters, handwritten scores, newspaper cuttings and programmes. A programme identifies an event; a letter records an exchange; a photograph preserves a moment. Together they reveal different kinds of evidence about a musical career. They also offer clear Greek nouns that a learner can recognise and use in everyday life.

Bachauer’s legacy includes recordings and a piano competition begun at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1976 and named after her in 1977. In Greece, the Athens Conservatoire preserves her papers, library and record collection, while ERT keeps filmed performances and a memorial programme. For a short Greek task, read the catalogue entry Αρχείο Τζίνας Μπαχάουερ (Gina Bachauer Archive). Find φωτογραφίες, επιστολές and προγράμματα, then write their singular forms with articles. Sort three documents of your own under these headings and describe one in two sentences. The adapted passage supports the exercise without requiring archive access. Her piano performances provide instrumental listening; the catalogue and your own descriptions provide the Greek practice.

• Born in Athens on 21 May 1910; died there on 22 August 1976.
• Played Grieg’s concerto at the Herodeon on 8 September 1974.
• Her Athens Conservatoire archive includes letters, photographs and concert programmes.
• The piano competition began at BYU in 1976 and received Bachauer’s name in 1977.