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Leonard  PENNARIO

Nato a Buffalo il 9 luglio del 1924, la città più vicina alle famose cascate del Niagara, Leonard Pennario si è trasferito nel 1934 con la sua famiglia a Los Angeles dove ha sviluppato l'intera sua carriera.

 Leonard è stato un pianista di primordine che ha esordito all'età di 12 anni suonando Grieg in concerto accompagnato dalla Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

 Durante la seconda guerra mondiale, interrompendo gli studi, Leonard si arruolò e con il suo pianoforte allietò le truppe americane in Cina, Birmania ed India senza omettere di conquistarsi tre stelle di bronzo.

 Solista di grido nella sua carriera che terminò nel 1990 ha inciso oltre 60 Long Plain di successo ed ha avuto l'onore di essere inserito nella Hall of Fame della Musica nell'ottobre del 200, quasi un anno prima della sua scomparsa avvenuta il 27 giugno del 2008 a La Jolla in California a seguito di complicazioni dovute al morbo di Parkinson dal quale era da tempo afflitto.

 Valente giocatore di bridge ricordato nella Official Encyclopedia of Bridge, cercava sempre di organizzare i suoi concerti nei pressi delle località dove si disputavano i NABC's per potervi partecipare ed ebbe i suoi momenti di celebrità quando formò una squadra di artisti con l'attore Don Adams, la band leader Les Brown e l'attrice televisiva Joan Benny.

  Mr. Pennario was born on July 9, 1924, in Buffalo, where, at the age of 7, he gave his first public performance, in a department store. 

He and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was 10, and when he was 12, he made his debut with an orchestra, playing the Grieg concerto with the Dallas Symphony as a last-minute replacement for a soloist who had fallen ill. 

Mr. Pennario studied with the pianists Isabelle Vengerova and Olga Steeb and attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, but World War II cut short his time there. He joined the Army in 1943 and was assigned to special services, performing concerts in this country and, later on, at hospitals and military bases in the China-Burma-India theater.

Mr. Pennario, who also became a life master in tournament bridge, was listed in both the New Grove’s Dictionary of Music and The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge. As a pianist, he made many recordings in the days of long-playing records, notably of works by Gershwin and Rachmaninoff, and appeared with well-known orchestras and conductors. Beginning in the 1960s, he also played in trios with the violinist Jascha Heifetz and the cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.

As a bridge player, Mr. Pennario was once part of a celebrity foursome with Don Adams, the actor who had the leading role in the original sitcom version of “Get Smart”; the bandleader Les Brown and Joan Benny, Jack Benny’s daughter.

Mr. Pennario was also a friend of Alfred Sheinwold, who was best known for his syndicated columns about bridge. But they also played music at their get-togethers. Mr. Pennario once said that he had often accompanied Sheinwold, who he said had “a fine tenor voice,” in Schubert and Brahms.