Awards & Winners

Leonard Pennario

Date of Birth 09-July-1924
Place of Birth Buffalo
(United States of America, New York, Erie County, Area code 716)
Nationality United States of America
Also know as Pennario, Leonard
Profession Pianist
Leonard Pennario was an American classical pianist and composer. He was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in Los Angeles, attending Los Angeles High School remaining in L.A. for his entire career. He first came to notice when he performed Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto at age 12, with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The scheduled performer had fallen ill, and Pennario's piano playing had come to the attention of the conductor Eugene Goossens, who recommended him as the soloist after being assured by Pennario that he knew the work. In fact, he had never seen the music or even heard it, but he learned it in a week. He studied with Guy Maier, Olga Steeb, and Isabelle Vengerova and attended the University of Southern California, where he studied composition with Ernst Toch. World War II interrupted his career, and he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces in the China Burma India Theater, where his piano skills were soon realized and served well entertaining troops of the Air Transport Command operation known as "The Hump". He occasionally had to play around keys missing from the keyboards of the pianos at a couple of the more remote bases. He was discharged in 1946 as a staff sergeant and was awarded three Battle Stars. He had, however, made his debut, in uniform, with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall on November 17, 1943, with Artur Rodziński, playing Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1.

Awards by Leonard Pennario

Check all the awards nominated and won by Leonard Pennario.

1995


Grammy Award for Best Historical Album
Honored for : The Heifetz Collection
(art director, mastering engineer, album notes writer, compilation producer)

Nominations 1995 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
Grammy Award for Best Historical Album The Heifetz Collection