Halina

Halina Czerny-Stefańska (31 December 1922 – 1 July 2001) was a Polish pianist.

Halina Czerny-Stefańska was connected to the old Polish aristocratic family Schwarzenberg-Czerny. She was born in Kraków on 30 December 1922 into a family of musicians. Her mother was a pianist and her father, Stanislaw Schwarzenberg-Czerny, a pianist and piano teacher, who gave his daughter her first lessons. In 1934 she won the Alfred Cortot prize which enabled her to study with Cortot in Paris. In 1949, she was awarded the first prize at the international Chopin competition in Warsaw together with Bella Davidovich. Even though this award promoted the start of her artistic career, it did not guarantee international success. Halina Czerny- Stefańska owed her international recognition to her talent and to the fact that she was a hard worker. She performed in public until the end of her life,all the while maintaining her great form.

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