Bella Davidovich is a Soviet and American pianist and music teacher, regarded as one of the finest interpreters of Chopin's music. She was born on July 16, 1928, in Baku.
She was born into a musical and professional family. Her father, Mikhail Naumovich Davidovich, was a surgeon and an Honored Doctor of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Her mother, Lucy Isaakovna Ratner, was an Honored Artist of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and a répétiteur at the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after M. F. Akhundov. Her grandfather, Isaac Abramovich Ratner, also served as a répétiteur at the same theater and was an Honored Artist of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.
Davidovich began studying piano at the age of six, and only three years later she gave her first performance in Baku, playing Beethoven's First Concerto. She graduated from the school for gifted children attached to the Hajibeyov Azerbaijan State Conservatory, where in her senior years she studied with the pianist and teacher A. S. Baron. From 1947 to 1954 she studied at the Moscow Conservatory, first with Konstantin Igumnov and then with Yakov Flier.
While still a student, Davidovich won a brilliant victory in 1949 at the Fourth International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, sharing first prize with Halina Czerny-Stefanska. This success launched her concert career. Through many years of regular appearances with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, she gained recognition as one of the best performers in the Soviet Union and soon became one of the world's most sought-after pianists. From 1962 she began teaching at the Moscow Conservatory.
After her first performance in the West, in the Netherlands in 1967, Davidovich became known abroad. Four years later she undertook a concert tour of Italy. After her son, the violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky, emigrated to the United States in 1977, she was forbidden to travel abroad, but only a year later she also managed to leave the Soviet Union. In 1979 she gave her first concert at Carnegie Hall, followed by many appearances both as a soloist and with the country's leading orchestras. A few years later she obtained American citizenship and began teaching at the Juilliard School in New York. She also gave numerous master classes in the United States and Europe.
At the beginning of perestroika, Davidovich became one of the first Soviet musicians who had earlier left the Soviet Union to be allowed to perform again in the USSR. Her solo recitals, as well as chamber performances with her son and with the Borodin Quartet, enjoyed great popularity. In later years she regularly served on the juries of international piano competitions, including the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, and the Busoni Competition in Bolzano.
The core of Davidovich's repertoire consists of works by 19th-century composers such as Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Liszt, which she recorded repeatedly. Her playing has been noted for its vitality and strength, the depth of its expression, its close attention to the musical text, and its profound understanding of the composer's intention. She was married to the noted violinist Julian Sitkovetsky, and their son Dmitry also became a classical violinist.
In 1972 she was awarded the title Honored Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
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