When Heida Hermanns fled Germany in the 1930s, she did not leave with only what she could carry. Her belongings included 2 grand pianos — one of which she had won in a competition — along with paintings, furniture and dishes.
Those are not the usual possessions of refugees. But, says Anneruth Serman, who worked alongside Hermanns for years at the Westport Arts Center (now MoCA\CT), “Heida did everything on a grand scale.”
On Saturday (November 14, 4 to 8 p.m.), MoCA\CT hosts the final round of the 54th annual Heida Hermanns International Music Competition.
Three promising and accomplished classical pianists will compete for the $20,000 first prize, and a solo recital at MoCA.
Hermanns died in 1995. But the gifted pianist, who moved to Westport inspired by its “eclectic, liberal, creative, artistic reputation,” and quickly became involved in its cultural life, is remembered well.
A young Heida Hermanns. (Photo courtesy of MoCA\CT)
MoCA\CT executive board member Elizabeth Strick recalls Joyce Thompson, former Westport Arts Center president, saying that when she walked into the office at 9 a.m., the phone would be ringing.
It was Hermanns, who often supplied the vision and expected others to supply the legwork. She contributed money to a project, but never all of it; the rest was theirs to raise.
Much of what she set in motion was built for artists. When the town leased Greens Farms Elementary School to the Arts Center, its classrooms became studios for painters, sculptors and writers.
Hermanns inspired, and largely funded, the conversion of the gym into a large open space with a small stage and movable risers in memory of her husband: Artur Holde Hall.
The popular performance and exhibition space also hosted art shows, even a children’s opera.
Artur Holde Hall, at the Westport Arts Center.
But music was the center of Hermanns’ world. Born Hedwig Goldschmidt in 1906 in Wiesbaden, Germany, she grew up in a German-Jewish family. Her mother, a gifted pianist, gave her first lessons.
At 14 she debuted with the Wiesbaden Symphony; the next year, she entered the Berlin Hochschule für Musik.
By 18 she had debuted with the Berlin Philharmonic, and was touring Europe as a recitalist and soloist. She adopted her aunt’s surname, Hermanns, to avoid bias against her Jewish name.
Heida Hermanns
In 1932 she married the music critic Artur Holde. As Nazi persecution intensified, she performed for the Jewish Kulturbund while Artur edited Jewish newspapers. After the Nuremberg Laws the couple fled on visitor visas, arriving in New York in October 1936.
For all the possessions she brought, their early years in America were difficult. They spoke little English and lived in poverty.
Hermanns practiced in a hotel lobby, and taught at the Y School of Music and a nearby music school.
After a trip to Cuba in 1937 to reenter the country legally, they became US citizens in 1942. They also brought her parents and their sisters out of Germany.
In New York Hermanns performed widely, including at Carnegie Hall, and concertized in a duo with John Corigliano Sr.
Heida Hermanns and John Corigliano (father of today’s composer).
In the late 1940s, fear of nuclear attack led the couple to Westport. Hermanns taught at the Westport Music School, and helped found the Friends of Music chamber concert series.
She recorded frequently with Ruth Steinkraus Cohen, the musician and United Nations activist for whom the Post Road bridge is named.
After Artur’s death in 1962 she turned her grief into purpose, devoting herself to the next generation of musicians. She taught at the Manhattan School of Music, and founded Performers of Connecticut to create performance opportunities for young artists.
She also established the Heida Hermanns Young Performers Competition, known today as the Heida Hermanns International Music Competition.
The competition included winds, strings and voice. Each category needed its own judges, and every year brought the same debate over which instruments to feature. Finally, Hermanns settled it: “Make it piano, and be done with it.”
In her later years, confined to bed, she ran things with a stack of index cards and a telephone. By evening, everyone was organized and moving. A friend said, “She accomplishes more from her bed than other people accomplish in a day at the office.”
Toward the end of her life, Hermanns made a simple request of those around her: “If you love me, continue my work.”
The competition has done exactly that, growing from a local event into an international one. The finals bring 3 pianists to the stage in one evening.
The competition has launched winners into competitions around the globe, including the Van Cliburn Competition,
This year’s finalists include (from left, below) Matthew Figel, representing the US; Juhee Lim from (South Korea) and Daria Podorozhnova (Russia). To learn more about them, click here.
John Vaccaro, a long-time advocate for Heida and her mission to nourish young musical artists, says, “Heida thought of all Westport’s artists as her children. She had none of her own. Those were her children. She put everything she had into supporting them.”
“It was important for Heida to continue that legacy of supporting young musicians and classical music through the Heida Hermanns International Music Competition because, she said, ‘remember, you have to raise all your children.'”
Tickets are $90, $80 (MoCA members and seniors) and $25 (students), and include cocktails, wine and light fare. Click here to purchase, and for more information. (Hat tip: Sandra Nygard)
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