Victor Hochhauser

CBE
Born(1923-03-27)27 March 1923
Košice, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)
Died22 March 2019(2019-03-22) (aged 95)
London, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationMusic promoter
Spouse(s)Lilian Hochhauser (née Shields)
(1949–2019; his death)
Children4, including Mark Sofer and Daniel Hochhauser

Victor Hochhauser CBE (27 March 1923 – 22 March 2019) was a British music promoter.

Early life

Hochhauser was born on 27 March 1923[1] in Košice, Czechoslovakia, the son of David Hochhauser, an industrialist. His grandfather and great-grandfather were rabbis.[2] He was a direct descendant of the Chatam Sofer, a leading Orthodox Rabbi of European Jewry in the nineteenth century.[3] Hochhauser came with his family to the UK from Slovakia in 1939, as a refugee from the Nazis.[3]

Career

His career as an impresario started in 1945 at London's Royal Albert Hall.[4]

Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Hochhauser was the first impresario to organise tours of the West by Soviet musicians, and introduced audiences to David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich, Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter, and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Dmitri Shostakovich was a house guest. Hochhauser has said, "My great stroke of luck came when Stalin died".[4] He and his wife Lilian were called "Britain's foremost independent promoters of classical music and ballet".[2]

Honours

Hochhauser was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.[5]

In June 2010, the Hochhausers were presented with the Order of Friendship by Russia.[4]

Personal life

He met his future wife Lilian Shields, born in Britain to Russian-Jewish parents, when they were both working for Rabbi Dr Solomon Schonfeld in London.[5] Lilian was also appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2018.[6] They married in 1949 and had four children, including the diplomat Mark Sofer.[7] Hochhauser was a vegetarian.[8]

Hochhauser died on 22 March 2019 in a London hospital.[3][9]

References

  1. ↑ "Victor Hochhauser – Personal Appointments". Companies House.
  2. 1 2 "Victor and Lilian Hochhauser: exclusive interview".
  3. 1 2 3 "Impresario Victor Hochhauser, who introduced Russian musical genius to West, dies aged 94". The Jewish Chronicle. 24 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 Wroe, Nicholas (16 July 2010). "Victor Hochhauser: 'My great stroke of luck came when Stalin died'". The Guardian.
  5. 1 2 Duchen, Jessica (3 December 2009). "Lilian and Victor Hochhauser". The Jewish Chronicle.
  6. ↑ "The Times 30 December 2017". The Times. 17 July 2023.
  7. ↑ "Haaretz 11 February 2017". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  8. ↑ "Victor Hochhauser Obituary". thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  9. ↑ Pick, Hella (24 March 2019). "Victor Hochhauser obituary". theguardian.com. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
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