| Biography | The Portuguese pianist, Sérgio Varella-Cid, was the son of a piano teacher and was considered a prodigy in Lisbon in the early 1940s, having studied privately with some of the greatest pianists in the world, who frequented visited the family home. As a teenager he studied in London. Among his teachers were Harold Craxton (1885-1971) and Ilona Kabos (1893-1973), and he was also greatly assisted by Benno Moiseiwitsch (1890-1963).
Sérgio Varella-Cid lived nearly his entire life in London, where he launched an international career as a concert pianist. He won prizes in Paris, Lisbon, Rio and Moscow, and in 1962 won the 6th prize at the First Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
In the late 1970s he moved to Brazil where, in June 1981, he disappeared without a trace. It is believed that he was murdered. |