Ida Prestiaus modern

Ida Presti(* 31 May 1924 in Suresnes, France, as Yvette Ida Montagnon; † 24 April 1967 in Rochester, United States) was a French guitarist and composer.

Life

Ida Presti first became acquainted with the classical guitar as a toddler, when her father would play to her on the guitar to help her fall asleep. At the age of five, her father began teaching her the piano and the guitar, though she soon opted for the guitar. She was later trained by the guitarist and violin maker Mario Maccaferri, who also taught her harmony and music theory. In 1932, at the age of eight, she made her first public appearance. Just two years later, she was already giving concerts in Paris and was hailed by the press as the ‘female Mozart’.

In 1937, Presti was made an honorary member of Les Amis de la Guitare in Paris. In the same year, she made several recordings for the French record label H. M. V. In 1938, she became the first guitarist ever to be invited to perform before the Société des concerts du Conservatoire in Paris. Also in 1938, she appeared in a supporting role as a guitarist in the French feature film *Le petit Chose* (directed by Maurice Cloche). At the age of 16, she played one of Paganini’s guitars at a commemorative concert marking the 100th anniversary of his death.

Although the Second World War initially interrupted Presti’s career, she soon gained international recognition after the war ended. In 1948, she performed the Concierto de Aranjuez with the French National Radio Orchestra; this studio performance was broadcast on French radio and was met with great enthusiasm. Presti subsequently performed the guitar concerto with various orchestras in several European cities, as well as in Tunis and Algiers in North Africa. In 1951, she made her London debut with a programme that included works by Tárrega, Villa-Lobos, Miguel Llobet and Pujol, among others, and was acclaimed by the critics.

Despite her successes, Presti gave up her career as a soloist in the 1950s and instead formed a duo with the guitarist Alexandre Lagoya. She had met and fallen in love with Lagoya in Paris in 1952 and married him the following year. The pair were the world’s first internationally renowned classical guitar duo and gave over 2,000 concerts until Presti’s death. Presti died on 24 April 1967 in Rochester, whilst preparing for a concert in New York, from internal bleeding caused by lung cancer. She was buried at the Cimetière communal in Montmorency, in the Val-d’Oise department. Her husband, Alexandre Lagoya, who died in 1999, was laid to rest beside her.

In addition to her concert performances, Presti also composed her own guitar pieces, although she did not publish them herself during her lifetime. In the 1960s, she also taught guitar at the Académie Internationale in Nice.

Emilio Pujol described Ida Presti as a ‘miracle of talent and grace’. The guitarist and music educator John Duarte regarded her as the finest guitarist of the 20th century, whose combination of flawless yet expressive playing, technical innovation and musical intuition remained unrivalled.

Works dedicated to her and her duo with Lagoya include Francis Poulenc’s *Sarabande* (1960) and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s *Les guitares bien temperées. 24 preludes et fugues pour 2 guitares* (1962).

Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Presti