Thaddeus Kozuch Biography

Polish-American Thaddeus Kozuch was born on March 5th, 1913 in Chicago.  During his childhood and teenage years the young Thaddeus became known in the Polish community and Chicago musical circles as a pianistic phenomenon whose talents were worthy of being closely followed.  Piano recitals and performances as a young man were often highlighted in Chicago community news articles.

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In 1932 Kozuch entered the Chicago Musical College and won, each year, a full scholarship until he received his bachelor degree in 1936.  When Dr. Glenn Dillard Gunn left the college in 1934, Kozuch became a pupil of internationally famed pianist Rudolph Ganz, and under his great teaching the dashing talent of this Polish boy matured into first-rate musicianship.  He received a beloved accolade ... "to the brilliant young pianist and musician Thaddeus Kozuch with every good wish from his friend and teacher Rudolph Ganz" ... when he set forth upon his career several years after graduation from the CMC. 

 

In 1939 Kozuch competed against 30 pianists in a contest conducted by the Adult Education Council in collaboration with the Society of American Musicians. After judging pianists, Artur Rubinstein gave this photo tribute "To Mr. Tadeusz Kozuch as a memento of the beautiful contest, which he completed triumphantly, with sincere wishes".

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Kozuch won first prize and the privilege of a performance at Orchestra Hall in Chicago in a 1940 weekly series, along with some of the great pianists of the day, including Gitta Gradova, Rudolph Serkin, Walter Gieseking, Artur Rubinstein, and Alexander Brailowsky.  This award recognized that Thaddeus Kozuch had achieved the highest ranks of piano performance, and with this success launched his professional career. 

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PreWar 1940's --- Following the success of his 1940 debut recital in Chicago's Orchestra Hall on February 6th, Thaddeus Kozuch spent the early 1940's teaching and concertizing throughout the Midwestern states in both solo recitals and with other musicians. After the United States entered WW-II in December 1941, Mr. Kozuch continued performing and teaching during 1942 and 1943 while awaiting his induction into the US armed forces.  His last recital before being sent to Army "boot camp" was on November 28, 1943.

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During WW-II "boot camp", US Army soldier Thaddeus Kozuch was trained as a machine gunner and had achieved marksman status!  In the 1944-1945 years of WW-II, Kozuch was a stationed in England. An officer heard him practicing in the barracks one day, and quickly diverted his talents to play for wounded soldiers in hospitals. 

Instead of storming the beach at Normandy, where 75% of his fellow troops perished, Kozuch survived as an entertainer for the war's duration, performing solo piano recitals and concerts with orchestras, choirs, and vocal soloists.

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PostWar 1940's --- Upon return from Europe, after being honorably discharged from the US Army, and regaining his memory of a normal life as a musician, Thaddeus Kozuch was once again teaching and concertizing.  He recorded his only commercial recordings, the 1947 "Concert Miniature" album, a collection of shorter works (as required to fit) on 78-rpm discs. He performed in numerous concerts and recitals during this period.  His successful 1947 New York Town Hall Recital was favorably received by the press, as was his Grieg piano concerto performance with Chicago's Grant Park Symphony Orchestra.

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The 1950's decade was when Thaddeus Kozuch established himself in Chicago and the Midwest states as the premier piano recitalist, professor and scholar. While also teaching and performing elsewhere, this is the period in which he began his nearly 30-year-long career as a faculty member of the DePaul University School of Music piano department, later to become its chairman. In 1958-1959 Kozuch furthered his musical journey with his first (post War) multi-city European recital tour.  The tours are highlighted in the BIO (8) page titled "European Tours".

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The 1960's was a decade of expansion for Thaddeus Kozuch.  During this time he taught considerably, engaged in professional organizations, performed recitals with other musicians, and took on new technical and musical challenges in his already extensive performance repertoire. Kozuch continued his musical journey in a second (post War) multi-city European recital tour. Both tours are highlighted in the BIO (8) page titled "European Tours". In his teaching and lecturing work, Mr. Kozuch was sought by institutions to be a judge of student performances, and for his deep knowledge of piano technique and performance history.

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The decade of the 1970's was a very busy one for pianist / teacher / scholar Thaddeus Kozuch. Newly appointed as Head of DePaul University's School of Music Piano Department in 1970, his faculty recitals were performed yearly (the only exception being the year of his brother Robert's death). In 1971 Kozuch was promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor. Professor Kozuch performed several duo-piano recitals with other pianists in DePaul's Faculty Series and on the WFMT radio broadcasts from the Chicago Cultural Center in the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series of concerts. The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, Inc. elected Professor Kozuch to its membership in 1974. Thaddeus Kozuch was also invited to give a recital and lectures at Poland's Congress of Scholars in 1979 from July 15 to 20 in Warsaw and Krakow. After retirement in 1979, his recitals and private teaching continued as DePaul's emeritus professor of piano.​

 

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During the 1980's decade Thaddeus Kozuch did not rest on his laurels. He performed a solo recital as a benefit for Chicago's Copernicus Foundation in 1980 at the same hall as the previous year where he gave his final DePaul University faculty recital before retirement. In 1981 he performed with other musicians in another concert-benefit, this one entitled "From Krakow - For Krakow" for the international fund to renovate the architectural treasures of Krakow, Poland. In 1982 a Szymanowski Centennial Concert included piano works performed by Thaddeus Kozuch. In 1983 the Copernican Award Concert included his playing. In 1984 Kozuch was a judge for the Kościuszko Foundation Preliminary Chopin Auditions. In the mid-1980's Professor Kozuch performed a recital for the Moraine Valley College, yet he somehow found time for his backyard gardening even while preparing for his final formal solo recital, given in Grand Rapids Michigan for the St. Cecilia Society in October 1986. Throughout this decade duo-pianist recitals were held with wife Jacqueline for the Polish Art's Club, as were recitals for St. John's Episcopal Church, where Jacqueline had been Choir director and organist for many years. Retirement indeed.

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​Before and after the war he performed at Orchestra Hall with the Chicago Symphony and with a number of other orchestras.  His teaching career included faculty positions at the YMCA College, Chicago Musical College, Drake University, Northwestern University, Marycrest College as piano department chairman, and as the Head of the Piano Department at DePaul University, from which Professor Kozuch retired after nearly 30 years in 1979.

 

Thaddeus Kozuch died at the age of 78 years old on Friday October 4, 1991.