Grant Johannesen

Grant Johannesen (July 30, 1921 – March 27, 2005) was an American concert pianist.

He was born in Salt Lake City and discovered at the age of five by an irate teacher who lived across the street. He imitated whatever he heard her play, and she did not appreciate it.

He studied with Robert Casadesus, Roger Sessions, and Nadia Boulanger. He made his New York debut at Times Hall when he was 23, and won the Concours International when he was 28.

He toured extensively, both with the New York Philharmonic under Dmitri Mitropoulos, and as a solo performer. His performances in Moscow were espcially well received. He was once encored 16 times.

He was known as an interpreter of French piano music and recorded the complete piano works of Gabriel Fauré.

He served as director, and later president, of the Cleveland Institute of Music. He was a frequent soloist with, and advocate of, the Utah Symphony in his native city.

Johannesen's first wife, Helen Taylor, died in an automobile accident in 1950. He married a second time to cellist Zara Nelsova, and they often performed together. He had one son, David Johannesen.

He died in Berlin at the age of 83.