Eugene George Istomin (November 26, 1925 – October 10, 2003) was an American pianist. He was a winner of the Leventritt Award and recorded extensively as a soloist and in a piano trio in which he collaborated with Isaac Stern and Leonard Rose.
He performed with the conductor Rodzinski and the New York Philharmonic a second time in December 1944, playing Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto.
His first recording, which brought him considerable acclaim, was of Bach's D minor Concerto with the Busch Chamber Players.
Starting in 1950, Istomin became a regular participant at the Prades Festival organized by the famous cellist Pablo Casals.
He commissioned and premiered Roger Sessions' piano concerto in 1956. Several other composers, including Henri Dutilleux and Ned Rorem, wrote music for him.
He recorded extensively for Columbia (later Sony Classical), solo works and chamber music. As late as 2001, he made the world premiere recording of Paul Paray's Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra, with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra under Jean-Bernard Pommier.
He was an avid reader and book collector and, eventually, attracted the interest of New York publishing magnate, William Jovanovich. In 1980, Istomin was hired by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers to advise the company in the publication of facsimile editions of original editions by Joseph Conrad and Thomas Hardy, among others.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he toured 30 American cities—largely in the Midwest—in a twelve-ton truck with his own Steinway pianos and piano tuner. It was the expression of a lifelong conviction that classical music belonged to the ordinary American. In this same vein, he was an ardent fan of the Detroit Tigers baseball team.
Better known in Europe than in the United States, Eugene Istomin received the French Légion d'honneur in 2001.
He died of liver cancer in 2003 at his home in Washington.
