Elizabeth Gilels
Elizabeth Gilels (born Yelizaveta Grigoryevna Gilels; ; 30 September 1919 – 13 March 2008) was a Soviet violinist and a professor. Biography. Elizabeth Gilels was born in Odessa into a Jewish family. Her father Grigory Gilels was a clerk at the sugar refinery, and her mother Gesya Gilels was a housewife. Elizabeth had multiple siblings, including children from previous marriages by both of her parents. Despite not being directly connected to a music scene, the family produced two musicians: first Emil Gilels, and three years later, Elizabeth. "There was a grand piano, and already at the age of two, little  Emil showed interest in it touching keys and listening to them." Conesequently, Yelizaveta, was surrounded by music at an early age. Elizabeth commenced her violin studies with pedagogue Pyotr Stolyarsky, whose pupils included David Oistrakh, Nathan Milstein and Boris Goldstein. Later she studied with Abram Yampolsky (1890–1956) in Moscow. Early on in her career, she’d formed a duo with her brother. In 1937, she became a prizewinner of the Eugène Ysaÿe competition (later becoming Queen Elizabeth Competition) in Brussels. Top prizes were garnered by Stolyarsky's other students, including David Oistrakh, Boris Goldshtein (Goldstein), Yelizaveta (Elizabeth) Gilels and Mikhail  Fikhtengoltz. After WWII, she formed a duo with Leonid Kogan – their Bach's Double Concerto performance became quite popular, and they also performed other pieces, such as the sonata by Weinberg. Beginning in 1966, Gilels taught at the Moscow Conservatory, where she earned the title of professor in 1987. She has published a study book of Scales & Double stops for violin. Outside of the USSR, she was mostly known in a dual role. First as the wife of Leonid Kogan and, second, a sister of the eminent Emil Gilels. She died in Moscow on 13 March 2008, at the age  of 88.