[Heinrich Neuhaus - The Miracle of Inheriting the Lineage of a Great Piano Educator] The Father of the Russian School of Piano Playing, Heinrich Neuhaus

At the root of my music lies the presence of one great educator.
He is Heinrich Neuhaus, the legendary educator who built the Russian school of piano playing.

Neuhaus is one of the most influential piano educators in history, having trained masters who represented the 20th century, such as:
Sviatoslav Richter
Emil Gilels
Arthur Rubinstein

He raised so many wonderful performers and great artists that it was even said that all of his students would go on to become great pianists or great educators.

He himself was an outstanding pianist and a thinker who delved deeply into music as an "art."

When Stanislav Bunin won the International Chopin Piano Competition in 1985, he was called a "pedigreed pianist" because his grandfather was Neuhaus, which symbolizes just how significant Neuhaus's presence was.

Meeting a direct disciple of Neuhaus in Vienna

When I studied abroad in Vienna, I was blessed with an unexpected encounter.
That was with Professor
Leonid Brumberg, a pianist and educator.

He was a direct disciple of Neuhaus and, furthermore, a person who taught many students for a long time as Neuhaus's assistant.
Afterward, he was an educator who held his own class and took on the role of passing the spirit of the Russian school of piano playing to the next generation.

Looking back, it was a miraculous event that the first teacher I met in Vienna was this direct descendant of Neuhaus.

In Professor Brumberg's lessons, Neuhaus's words and ways of thinking were often spoken of.

It was not merely a time to learn "how to play," but a time to learn how to grasp music itself.
The sensibility to make music speak like language
The thinking to grasp structure and emotion simultaneously
I naturally absorbed these things during these lessons.

As an assistant

About three years after I studied abroad in Vienna and was under my teacher, Professor Brumberg said to me,
"You have understood and mastered almost all of my teachings. Therefore, I want you to teach my students,"
and he recommended that I serve as an assistant while I was still enrolled in the university.

After that, I conducted instruction for some of his students/colleagues, and even for students aiming for music universities.

That was also taking on the role of passing on the direct Neuhaus teachings that I had inherited to the next generation.

Neuhaus to me

I did not study under Neuhaus himself.
However, I was able to learn his philosophy and musical perspective directly from a direct disciple of Neuhaus.

Therefore, to me, Neuhaus is not a great person in a textbook, but a person who can be felt as a "living presence" during lessons.

It is by no means a story of lineage or authority, but rather a tale of how the spirit of music has been passed down.

I learned music within that tradition, and I continue to face the piano as a continuation of that legacy.