Yakov Flier

Yakov Vladimirovich Flier (Russian: Я́ков Влади́мирович Флие́р; October 21 [O.S. October 8], 1912 – December 18, 1977; last name also spelled Fliere or Fliyer) was a Jewish Russian concert pianist and teacher.[1]

Left to right: Lance Dossor, Yacob Flier, Moura Lympany, Emile Gilels, André Dumortier, and Arturo Michelangeli at the 1938 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.

Photo of pianists Emil Gilels and Yakov Flier (right) who took first and third prizes at the Queen Elizabeth international contest in Brussels. Pravda newspaper (Soviet Union). May 1938.

Flier was born in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Russia. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Konstantin Igumnov. By the 1930s, he had become one of the most prominent Russian concert pianists. He mainly performed Romantic music, although he also played some works by contemporary Russian composers Dmitry Kabalevsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, German Galynin, Sergei Prokofiev and Rodion Shchedrin.

He taught piano for many years at the Moscow Conservatory from 1936.[2] His notable students include Rodion Shchedrin, Viktoria Postnikova, Mikhail Pletnev, Lev Vlassenko, Natasha Vlassenko, Tatiana Ryumina, Mikhaïl Faerman, Bella Davidovich, Sergey Musaelyan, Regina Shamvili, Shoshana Rudiakov, Mikhail Rudy, Mark Zeltser, Vladimir Feltsman, Samvel Alumian, Mūza Rubackytė, Ilze Graubina, and Arnis Zandmanis.

He was a contemporary of, and sometime rival to Emil Gilels. In the 1960s and 1970s, Flier began to perform in Europe. During his concert tour in the USA he performed Sergei Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

He died in 1977 in Moscow, aged 65.