Emanuel Ax by Lisa Marie Mazzucco
75-year-old pianist Emanuel Ax has published a letter in the NY Times, April 25. He says: « I am an immigrant whose parents were lucky enough to come from Eastern Europe to the United States six decades ago. To them and to so many of their compatriots, the U.S. was the promised land.
I am an old citizen now — I have had the privilege of being an American for many years — but I am deeply depressed and anxious about the direction that our present government is bent on.
For so long, we have been a beacon of reason, generosity and hope. The hallmarks of our democracy are being undermined every day by this administration. I can only hope that enough lawmakers will come to their senses and return us to the country that we used to be. – Emanuel Ax, New York »
Emanuel Ax was born in Lviv. His Jewish parents survived the concentration camp. Ax began learning the piano at the age of 6; his first teacher was his father. When Emanuel Ax was 8 years old, his parents moved with him to Warsaw, where he continued to receive piano lessons.
In 1959, he emigrated with his parents to Canada and two years later to the USA. Emanuel Ax studied in New York, including at the Juilliard School of Music, where he teaches today.
