Emanuel Ax

Emanuel "Manny" Ax (born June 8, 1949) is an American classical pianist. He is known for his chamber music collaborations with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinists Isaac Stern and Young Uck Kim, as well as his piano recitals and performances with major orchestras in the world. Starting at age 12, Ax studied piano under Mieczysław Munz of the Juilliard School. He won honorable mention at the VIII International Chopin Piano Competition in 1970, third place at the Vianna da Motta International Music Competition in 1971, seventh place at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1972, and first prize in the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 1974.

Ax has been a faculty member at the Juilliard School since 1990. Ax was born into the Polish-Jewish family of Joachim and Hellen Ax in Lviv, Ukraine, formerly part of the Soviet Union. Both parents were Nazi concentration camp survivors. Ax began to study piano at the age of six; his father was his first piano teacher.

When he was seven, the family moved to Warsaw, Poland, where he studied piano at the Miodowa school. Two years later, Ax's family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, where he continued to study music, including as a member of The Junior Musical Club of Winnipeg.