Yakov Izrailevich Zak (20 November 1913, Odessa – 28 June 1976, Moscow) was a distinguished Soviet pianist and pedagogue, recognized as a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966 and previously named People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1964. Born in Odessa, he received his early musical education there, graduating from the Odessa Music and Drama Technical School and studying at the Beethoven Music and Drama Institute with Maria Starkova; he also studied harmony and polyphony with Nikolai Vilinsky and chamber ensemble under Pyotr Stolyarsky before moving to Moscow to continue his training at the Moscow Conservatory under the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus.
Zak began his concert career in 1935, the same year he won third prize at the Second All-Union Competition of Performing Musicians in Leningrad. His international breakthrough came in 1937, when he won First Prize at the III International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and received a special prize for the best performance of Chopin's mazurkas. He subsequently established himself as a prominent concert pianist, touring extensively throughout the Soviet Union and abroad, including appearances in Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Finland, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Portugal, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Romania.
In addition to his solo career, he was known for his chamber music collaborations, particularly his long-standing piano duo partnership with Emil Gilels and his work with the Bolshoi Theatre Quartet. His playing was characterized by high virtuosity, a delicate touch, and profound artistic depth. His vast repertoire spanned from classical composers like Beethoven and Schubert to Romantics such as Brahms and Chopin, and also included rarer works, notably all of Nikolai Medtner's piano concertos.
A significant figure in music education, Zak taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1935, becoming professor in 1947 and head of the piano department in 1965. He mentored a generation of celebrated pianists, including Nikolai Petrov, Eliso Virsaladze, Yevgeny Mogilevsky, Viktor Afanasyev, Svetlana Navasardyan, Tatiana Smirnova, Vladimir Bakk, Constantin Ionescu-Iliescu, Tatiana Koloss, Grigory Mirvis, Alexander Cherkasov, Pavel Kvernadze, and Larisa Timofeyeva. He also served on the juries of major international competitions, including the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955 and 1960.
Zak was also a champion of contemporary music, premiering many works by Soviet composers, including the First Piano Concerto by Yevgeny Golubev, the Piano Concerto by Yuri Levitin, Kabalevsky's Third Sonata, and works by Vissarion Bely, Marian Koval, and Mikhail Chulaki. He made recordings of works by Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff, as well as by Ravel and Vasilenko. Additionally, he authored various articles and methodological works on piano performance, among them writings on the training of young performers and memoiristic essays, as well as studies devoted to such musicians as Maria Yudina, Rosa Tamarkina, Heinrich Neuhaus, Vladimir Sofronitsky, and David Oistrakh.
Among his official honors were the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, two Orders of the Badge of Honour, and the medal for valiant labour during the Great Patriotic War. Zak died in Moscow in 1976 and was buried at Kuntsevo Cemetery.
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