Olga Von Till
Olga Von Till was an American classical pianist and piano teacher.Biography
Till was born in the borough of Brooklyn, New York in 1897. As a teenager she worked as a pianist accompanying silent films. At age 17, before World War I broke out, she travelled to Budapest, Hungary to study with Béla Bartók at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Bartok encouraged Till's compositional skills, an indication that he was confident in her talent. While there she also studied under Zoltán Kodály and Ernő Dohnányi.
Von Till returned to the US after the war and taught piano in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her pupils included Bill Evans, Barry Miles and Larry Young.
When Von Till was studying in Budapest, Bartok, Kodály, and Dohnányi were experimenting with harmonies based on fourths and using pentatonic melodic structures. Von Till carried their influence throughout her life as a musician and teacher. That influence, particularly from Kodály, can be heard in Larry Young's compositions.
. The common musical sensibilities of Larry Young and Bill Evans were influenced by Von Till with respect to their approaches to lyricism and harmonic expansions particulary with respect to their chords built on fourths. Through Evans and Young, Von Till had influence on Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, Jimi Hendrix, Woody Shaw, Carlos Santana, and Jack Bruce.
Von Till died on February 6, 1996 and is buried in Van Liew Cemetery in North Brunswick, New Jersey.Personal life
While living in Hungary, Von Till met Hugó Kormos and married him in 1919. She was the great aunt of Steve Von Till and Katherine Von Till.
