Peter Diamand CBE | |
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Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Jan Blokker and Peter Diamand in 1987 | |
Born | 8 June 1913 |
Died | 16 January 1998 | (aged 84)
Occupation | Artistic Director |
Peter Diamand, CBE (8 June 1913 – 16 January 1998) was an arts administrator and director of the Edinburgh International Festival from 1965 to 1978. [1]
Diamand was born in Berlin on 8 June 1913, and educated there, but held Austrian nationality. [1] In the early 1930s, being Jewish, [2] he fled to Amsterdam to escape Nazism. [1] While there, he worked as secretary to pianist Artur Schnabel. [1]
Diamand spent some time in a Dutch concentration camp before escaping. He and his mother needed to hide from the Nazis, in attics and other cramped places, with inadequate food. [3] Schnabel's last student, pianist Maria Curcio, looked after them, at great risk and high cost to her own health and career. [2] In 1947, they married. [1] They divorced in 1971. He subsequently married American violinist, Sylvia Rosenberg.
He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 15 August 1966, [4] and was made an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1972. [1]
He was also Artistic advisor for the Orchestre de Paris between 1976 and 1998. [1] He was made Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in February 1996. [5]
Diamand died in Amsterdam on 16 January 1998. [1]
Peter Diamand CBE | |
---|---|
![]()
Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Jan Blokker and Peter Diamand in 1987 | |
Born | 8 June 1913 |
Died | 16 January 1998 | (aged 84)
Occupation | Artistic Director |
Peter Diamand, CBE (8 June 1913 – 16 January 1998) was an arts administrator and director of the Edinburgh International Festival from 1965 to 1978. [1]
Diamand was born in Berlin on 8 June 1913, and educated there, but held Austrian nationality. [1] In the early 1930s, being Jewish, [2] he fled to Amsterdam to escape Nazism. [1] While there, he worked as secretary to pianist Artur Schnabel. [1]
Diamand spent some time in a Dutch concentration camp before escaping. He and his mother needed to hide from the Nazis, in attics and other cramped places, with inadequate food. [3] Schnabel's last student, pianist Maria Curcio, looked after them, at great risk and high cost to her own health and career. [2] In 1947, they married. [1] They divorced in 1971. He subsequently married American violinist, Sylvia Rosenberg.
He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 15 August 1966, [4] and was made an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1972. [1]
He was also Artistic advisor for the Orchestre de Paris between 1976 and 1998. [1] He was made Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in February 1996. [5]
Diamand died in Amsterdam on 16 January 1998. [1]