Simon Barere (1 September 1896, Odesa, Russian Empire – 2 April 1951, Manhattan, New York City) was an American concert pianist of Russian-Jewish descent and the father of Boris Barere, born in 1921. Tragically, he passed away on stage at the age of 55 while performing Grieg's Piano Concerto with The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy, at Carnegie Hall. Barere suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died backstage shortly afterward, before the ambulance could arrive.
Born in Odesa, which is now part of Ukraine, Simon was the eleventh child in a Jewish family. After his father died young, he began playing the piano at local venues as a child to support his family. In 1907, at the age of eleven, Simon enrolled in the Odessa Imperial Music Academy; however, he left after his mother passed away, striving to fulfill her wishes for him to receive the best musical education. In 1912, at sixteen, Barere traveled to Saint Petersburg, where he secured an audience with the esteemed composer Alexander Glazunov, director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He performed for Glazunov and two faculty members, Annette Essipoff and Isabella Vengerova, leaving them impressed with his remarkable talent. As a result, he was admitted without entrance examinations and studied for two years under Anna Yesipova until her death, after which he continued his piano studies with Felix Blumenfeld, a pupil of Anton Rubinstein. During this time, he studied alongside notable contemporaries such as Vladimir Horowitz, Vladimir Sofronitsky, and Maria Grinberg. Glazunov provided significant support throughout Barere's education, acting as his patron and helping him avoid mandatory military service while also protecting him from antisemitic discrimination.
After graduating in 1919, Simon Barere returned to Ukraine, where he became a professor at the Kyiv Conservatory while also touring as a virtuoso pianist. Following Vladimir Lenin's death in 1924 and the subsequent rise of Joseph Stalin's regime, the challenges of being a concert musician increased significantly. In 1928, Barere moved to Riga, Latvia, where he took on the role of Cultural Ambassador for the USSR in the Baltics and Scandinavia. He successfully obtained exit visas for his wife and seven-year-old son, Boris, and the family fled the Soviet Union, ultimately making their way to Berlin, Germany. This decision proved to be ill-fated, as the Nazi regime began to persecute Jews soon after. Unable to find orchestral or academic positions, Simon resorted to odd jobs, playing in local cafes. In the early 1930s, the Barere family left Germany for Sweden.
In 1934, Simon Barere made his British stage debut, performing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto in B-flat minor under the baton of Sir Thomas Beecham. Following a series of acclaimed performances, His Master's Voice commissioned him to record a set of 78 RPM gramophone records at Abbey Road Studios, featuring solo piano works by Liszt, Chopin, Glazunov, and Blumenfeld. In 1985, a compilation of these recordings was released by APR, remastered by Bryan Crimp. That autumn, Simon Barere toured Great Britain alongside tenor Richard Tauber in a concert series organized by Harold Holt, and he also toured Australia and New Zealand.
In 1936, the Baldwin Piano Company arranged his first tour of the USA, after which Barere permanently settled in New York. Following his debut in November 1936, he performed fifteen solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, occasionally collaborating with his son, Boris Barere. A posthumous CD/DVD compilation was released by Cembal D'Amour, featuring their joint recordings and surviving video footage. Barere was particularly celebrated for his dexterity and impeccable articulation at high tempos, with his virtuosic renditions of Balakirev's Islamey becoming a staple of his extensive repertoire. In March 1951, shortly before his untimely death, Simon Barere recorded a series of works for the Remington label.
