Born: February 24, 1912 (Toronto, Canada)

Died: August 12, 1998 (San Jose, Costa Rica)

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The Canadian-American pianist, Ida Krehm, started her piano studies at age 7. From the ages of 11 to 13 she won competitions: Canadian National Exhibition, Ontario Musical Festival and the Welsh Eisteddfod. In 1929, she became a U.S. resident moving to Chicago to study at the Chicago Musical Institute with the Swiss conductor and pianist Rudolph Ganz.

Krehm gained national recognition over the course of three weeks in 1937 as the winner of the Schubert Memorial Award appearing with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Ormandy, winner of a cash prize awarded by the National Federation of Music Clubs, and as winner of the Naumburg Foundation's piano award, making her NY debut in Town Hall in December 1937.

She went on to perform with numerous orchestras and as a recitalist throughout the Americas: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Guatemala National Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; in Europe with the London Philharmonic and Zurich Radio Orchestra. Krehm was selected by Ernest Bloch to premiere his Scherzo fantasque with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on December 2, 1950. She gave many first performances of works by composers such as Norman Dello Joio, Carlos Surinach, and Alexander Tcherepnin. In 1962, Krehm made her debut as a pianist/conductor in Hilversum, the Netherlands.

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Excerpt from The New York Times review, November 6, 1953

Ida Krehm, Pianist, in Unusual Recital

"The 'big' number was Schumann's Intermezzi, op. 4, a work that for some reason pianists choose to avoid. And yet, here is a piece with the poetry of the 'David' Dances, the romanticism of the 'Kreisleriana' and the whimsy of the 'Carnaval.' ... For a first American performance there were four Nocturnes by Alexander Tansman, composerd i 1952 and dedicated to Stravinsky. .. She is an experienced pianist who can be relied upon for honest work." H.C.S.

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