Isabelle Vengerova was a Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

, later American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

She was born Izabella Afanasyevna Vengerova (Изабелла Афанасьевна Венгерова), in Minsk

Minsk

- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...

 (now in Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

). Her elder brother Semyon Vengerov

Semyon Vengerov

Semyon Afanasievich Vengerov was the preeminent literary historian of Imperial Russia. He was the pater familias of an artistic clan that included his sister Isabelle Vengerova, a co-founder of the Curtis Institute in New York City, and nephew Nicolas Slonimsky, a Russian-American...

 was a venerable literary historian. She studied the piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 at the Vienna Conservatory with Josef Dachs

Josef Dachs

Josef Dachs was an Austrian pianist and music teacher.He received his music education by Simon Sechter and Carl Czerny. He worked as a concert pianist and premiered many works....

, and privately with Theodor Leschetizky; in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 she studied with Anna Yesipova

Anna Yesipova

Anna Yesipova was a prominent Russian pianist. Her name is cited variously as Anna Esipova; Anna or Annette Essipova; Anna, Annette or Annetta Essipoff; Annette von Essipow; Anna Jessipowa.Yesipova was one of Teodor Leszetycki's most brilliant pupils...

. From 1906 to 1920 she taught at the Imperial Conservatory in St Petersburg

Saint Petersburg Conservatory

The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...

 and then toured the USSR and Western Europe from 1920 to 1923, when she settled in the USA.

In 1924 she helped found the Curtis Institute

Curtis Institute of Music

The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...

 and in 1933 joined the faculty of the Mannes College, teaching at both institutions until her death in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1956. Vengerova was also known for her painstaking attention to detail and for a psychological insight that brought out the best in each pupil. While she denied having a particular method, she drilled all students in techniques designed to achieve expressive playing and beautiful tone, keeping the fingers close to the keys for evenness and a seamless legato

Legato

In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...

; playing deeply in the keys while using the weight of the forearm and a flexible wrist to achieve a full singing tone without harshness, and controlling tone by higher or lower positions of the wrist.

Among her pupils were Ralph Berkowitz

Ralph Berkowitz

Ralph Berkowitz was an American composer, classical musician, and painter.-Biography:Berkowitz was born in New York City, New York in 1910 and grew up in Brooklyn. In 1927, he enrolled at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia where he later became a member of the teaching staff...

, Patricia Benkman-Marsh, Samuel Barber

Samuel Barber

Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...

, Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...

, Lukas Foss

Lukas Foss

Lukas Foss was a German-born American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Music career:He was born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs...

, Anthony di Bonaventura

Anthony di Bonaventura

Anthony di Bonaventura is the Professor of Music at Boston University's College of Fine Arts.Anthony di Bonaventura began piano studies at three years old and gave the first professional concert at four years old. Then he won a scholarship to New York's Music School Settlement at six. At thirteen,...

, Gary Graffman

Gary Graffman

Gary Graffman is an American classical pianist, teacher of piano and music administrator.Graffman was born in New York City to Russian-Jewish parents. Having started piano at age 3, Graffman entered the Curtis Institute of Music at age 7 in 1936 as a piano student of Isabelle Vengerova...

, Teresa Escandon, Lilian Kallir, Virginia Reinecke, Joseph Rezits, Abbey Simon

Abbey Simon

-Education:Simon began lessons with David Saperton at the age of five. At the age of eight, Simon was accepted by Józef Hofmann as a scholarship student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he trained with fellow classmates Jorge Bolet and Sidney Foster. Simon also took lessons...

, Gilbert Kalish

Gilbert Kalish

Gilbert Kalish is an American pianist.He was born in New York and studied with Leonard Shure, Julius Hereford and Isabelle Vengerova. He was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a pioneering new music group that flourished during the 1960s and '70s...

, Jacob Lateiner

Jacob Lateiner

Jacob Lateiner, was a Cuban-American pianist. He was actually born on March 31, 1928, but his father did not get around to registering his birth until May 31 the same year.He was the brother of violinist Isidor Lateiner....

, Leonard Pennario

Leonard Pennario

Leonard Pennario was an American classical pianist and composer.He was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in Los Angeles, attending Los Angeles High School remaining in L.A. for his entire career. He first came to notice when he performed Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto at age 12, with the...

, Judit Jaimes, and Stanley Babin

Stanley Babin

-Life:Babin was born in in 1932 in to Lydia and David Babin, a rabbi. He had four siblings. The family emigrated to Tel Aviv in 1933 where he studied music with Frank Pelleg and made his official debut at Museum Hall in 1945...

.

She was the maternal aunt and first teacher of Nicolas Slonimsky

Nicolas Slonimsky

Nicolas Slonimsky was a Russian born American composer, conductor, musician, music critic, lexicographer and author. He described himself as a "diaskeuast" ; "a reviser or interpolator."- Life :...

.