Martin Berkofsky

Martin Berkofsky (9 April 1943 – 30 December 2013) was an American classical pianist, known primarily for his interpretations of music by Franz Liszt and Alan Hovhaness.

Born in Washington, D.C., of Belarusian ancestry, Berkofsky began giving public performances from a young age.

Later studies were with the Polish pianist Mieczysław Munz, with Konrad Wolff, and Walter Hautzig, as well as with Hans Kann in Vienna.

He was active on VHF in the suburban Maryland area during his high school years, and in his later years, he was an amateur radio operator and assembled a VHF/UHF station on his property in Virginia.

Some of Berkofsky's earliest professional engagements were as a member of New York's Long Island Chamber Ensemble, of which he was pianist for three years.

With pianist Atakan Sarı, he gave the world premiere performance in Moscow of Hovhaness' 1954 Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra with the Globalis Symphony Orchestra.

To celebrate his 60th birthday and recovery from cancer, Berkofsky embarked on a marathon concert tour, "Celebrate Life Run," running 880 miles across America's heartland and raising over US$80,000 for cancer research.

He ran a second marathon six years later, "All Men are Brothers", named after a symphony of Alan Hovhaness, from the summit of New Hampshire's Mount Monadnock, to the Arlington, Massachusetts boyhood home of the composer.

In 1971 the ensemble met the composer Alan Hovhaness, and they subsequently gave an all-Hovhaness concert at Carnegie Recital Hall, which included the premiere of Hovhaness's Saturn, op. 243, which Hovhaness had written for the ensemble.

During his early years, Berkofsky traveled to Europe and twice recorded the long-lost Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra of Max Bruch.

The first time was with the pianist Nathan Twining and London Symphony Orchestra in 1974.

The second recording was with pianist David Hagan and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in 1978.

In addition to his research on this Bruch concerto, Berkofsky also did similar restoration of a duo piano concerto composed jointly by Felix Mendelssohn and Ignaz Moscheles.

He also discovered in Paris, and subsequently edited and published, a previously unknown manuscript by Franz Liszt.

After recovering from a motorcycle accident in Iceland in 1982, Berkofsky donated proceeds from some of his performances to various charitable causes.

He later founded the Cristofori Foundation to facilitate this purpose.

He married in Iceland and lived there from 1982 until 1987.

In 2004, he presented the first Armenian performance of Hovhaness's piano concerto Lousadzak (1944), with the Alan Hovhaness Chamber Orchestra of Yerevan.

In 2005, he presented the Turkish premiere of Lousadzak with the Orchestra Academic Başkent, Ankara, perhaps the first performance of a Hovhaness work in that nation.

That same year, his and Atakan Sari's recording of Hovhaness' Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra was released.

In November 2006, again with Sarı, he gave the Armenian premiere of the Hovhaness Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra in Yerevan.

Another Hovhaness Armenian premiere was given in April 2008, with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra in Yerevan, this time, Hovhaness' early "Prayer-Piano Concerto for Symphony Orchestra."

At the same time, Berkofsky was awarded a Diploma by the Ministry of Culture of Armenia for his services to Armenian music.

For a number of years he was one of the coordinators of a project to establish a central archive of Hovhaness' work in Yerevan, Armenia.

Berkofsky lived in Casanova, Virginia and later Warrenton, Virginia.

In 2009, Berkofsky participated in a concert to fund and unveil a memorial to Hovhaness in Arlington.

He died from cancer on 30 December 2013.

Berkofsky has recorded for the EMI, Arts, Cristofori, Black Box, Koch International, Crystal, Vox Allegretto, Nimbus, Vox-Turnabout, FONO, Angel, Poseidon Society, and Musical Heritage Society labels.