Josef Lhévinne, born Joseph Arkadievich Levin on December 13, 1874, in Oryol, Russia, was a pianist. He studied at the Imperial Conservatory in Moscow under Vasily Safonov and made his public debut at age 14 performing Ludwig van Beethoven's Emperor Concerto. Lhévinne graduated with a gold medal in 1892 alongside Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, then won the Second International Anton Rubinstein Competition in Berlin in 1895. He married fellow pianist Rosina Bessie in 1898, and they performed together until his death. Facing antisemitism and political turmoil, they moved to Berlin in 1907. During World War I, they were declared enemy aliens and endured hardship. After the war, they emigrated to New York City in 1919, where Lhévinne continued his concert career and taught at the Juilliard School. Notable recordings include Johann Strauss II's "Blue Danube Waltz" (1928) and Chopin's "Études Op. 25, Nos. 6 & 11" (1935). Lhévinne died in New York on December 2, 1944.
