Ann Schein Carlyss - Life and Career

Life and Career

She spent her early years in Evanston, Illinois, but she moved to Washington D.C. when she was 4. At age 5, she began her piano training with Glenn and Bessie Gunn. She went on to study at the Peabody Conservatory under the direction of Mieczyslaw Munz. In 1959, at age 19, her first recording (of Chopin's Scherzi) established her as a premiere pianist. In 1961, she began lessons with Arthur Rubinstein. The next year, she performed a solo debut at Carnegie Hall, followed by a performance at the White House in 1963 for President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy.

In 1980, Ann Schein presented an entire season of the major Chopin repertoire in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, going through the entire Chopin cycle. From 1980 until 2000, when she retired, Ann was a member of the piano faculty at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She has been an Artist-Faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 1984 and is a sought-after adjudicator in major international music competitions. During the summer of 2005, she opened the series of the complete Beethoven Sonatas performed by members of the piano faculty. The Washington International Piano Competition has established an award in Schein's and her mother's name.