Xenia Boodberg Lee | |
---|---|
Born | Xenia Boodberg November 28, 1927
Oakland, California |
Died | September 27, 2004 | (aged 76)
Nationality | American |
Other names | Xenia Lee |
Occupation | pianist |
Xenia Boodberg Lee (November 28, 1927 – September 27, 2004) was an American concert pianist, based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Xenia Boodberg was born in Oakland, California, [1] the only child [2] of Peter A. Boodberg (1903-1972) and Elena (Helen) Boodberg (1896-1980). Her father was a Russian-born Baltic German linguistics scholar and professor of Oriental Languages at the University of California in Berkeley. [3] Her aunt Valentina A. Vernon recalled that her parents tried to raise her without speaking English as a small child, "only French and Russian". [4]
Xenia Boodberg was a creative child, publishing poems and stories in the Berkeley newspaper at age 8, [5] and winning an essay contest on fire prevention from the Berkeley Lodge of Elks, also in 1936. [6] She was performing at public events as a pianist before and into her early teens. [7] [8] [9] She earned an associate in arts degree at the University of California in 1948. [10] She also studied with pianist Egon Petri at Mills College, [11] [12] and with pianist Adolph Baller. [13]
Soon after college, in January 1949, she gave a program of piano music by composers Darius Milhaud, Roger Sessions, Joaquín Nin-Culmell, Béla Bartók, and Claude Debussy in New York, of which The New York Times reviewer commented, "Miss Boodberg remains a pianist of unusual potentialities, especially in the field of new music". [14] She played recitals and concerts, especially twentieth-century works, [15] in the San Francisco Bay area and elsewhere, often and for many years afterwards, [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] into the 1970s. [21] She was a member of the San Francisco Musical Club and played with the Oakland Symphony and the Stockton Symphony. [22]
Before February 1950, Xenia Boodberg married Richard Henry Lee, a marine sergeant and Korean War veteran, [23] and a descendant of American founding father Richard Henry Lee. [24] They had two children, Richard and Julie. [4] She died in 2004, aged 76 years. [25]
Xenia Boodberg Lee | |
---|---|
Born | Xenia Boodberg November 28, 1927
Oakland, California |
Died | September 27, 2004 | (aged 76)
Nationality | American |
Other names | Xenia Lee |
Occupation | pianist |
Xenia Boodberg Lee (November 28, 1927 – September 27, 2004) was an American concert pianist, based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Xenia Boodberg was born in Oakland, California, [1] the only child [2] of Peter A. Boodberg (1903-1972) and Elena (Helen) Boodberg (1896-1980). Her father was a Russian-born Baltic German linguistics scholar and professor of Oriental Languages at the University of California in Berkeley. [3] Her aunt Valentina A. Vernon recalled that her parents tried to raise her without speaking English as a small child, "only French and Russian". [4]
Xenia Boodberg was a creative child, publishing poems and stories in the Berkeley newspaper at age 8, [5] and winning an essay contest on fire prevention from the Berkeley Lodge of Elks, also in 1936. [6] She was performing at public events as a pianist before and into her early teens. [7] [8] [9] She earned an associate in arts degree at the University of California in 1948. [10] She also studied with pianist Egon Petri at Mills College, [11] [12] and with pianist Adolph Baller. [13]
Soon after college, in January 1949, she gave a program of piano music by composers Darius Milhaud, Roger Sessions, Joaquín Nin-Culmell, Béla Bartók, and Claude Debussy in New York, of which The New York Times reviewer commented, "Miss Boodberg remains a pianist of unusual potentialities, especially in the field of new music". [14] She played recitals and concerts, especially twentieth-century works, [15] in the San Francisco Bay area and elsewhere, often and for many years afterwards, [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] into the 1970s. [21] She was a member of the San Francisco Musical Club and played with the Oakland Symphony and the Stockton Symphony. [22]
Before February 1950, Xenia Boodberg married Richard Henry Lee, a marine sergeant and Korean War veteran, [23] and a descendant of American founding father Richard Henry Lee. [24] They had two children, Richard and Julie. [4] She died in 2004, aged 76 years. [25]