Tchaikovsky
www.tchaikovsky-research.net

Lev Konius

Russian pianist and teacher (b. 1871; d. 1944 in Cincinatti, Ohio), born Lev Eduardovich Konius (Лев Эдуардович Конюс, Lev Eduardovič Konjus, Lev Eduardovich Konyus); also known outside Russia as Leo Conus.

The youngest son of the piano teacher and music critic Eduard Konstantinovich Konius (1827–1902), and brother to Georgii Konius and Iulii Konius, Lev studied at the Moscow Conservatory in Anton Arenskii's advanced composition class, and in 1893 he assisted Tchaikovsky with the piano arrangement of his Symphony No. 6, while his older brother Iulii advised the composer on matters of violin technique in the symphony.

In 1912 Lev Konius was appointed professor of piano at the conservatory in Moscow, where he also founded a piano school. He left Russia in 1920 for Paris, where he taught at the city's Russian Conservatory, before moving to the United States in 1935 to teach at Cincinnati Music College.