Kagen, Sergius
Kagen, Sergius
Kagen, Sergius , Russian-born American pianist, teacher, and composer; b. St. Petersburg, Aug. 22, 1909; d. N.Y., March 1, 1964. He went to Berlin in 1921 and studied with Leonid Kreutzer and Paul Juon at the Hochschule für Musik; emigrated to the U.S. in 1925 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1930. He studied with Carl Friedberg, Rubin Goldmark, and Marcella Sembrich at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (diploma, 1930). He later joined its faculty (1940), and also taught at the Union Theological Seminary (1957–64). He wrote the books Music for the Voice (N.Y., 1949; 2nd ed., rev., 1968) and On Studying Singing (N.Y., 1950). He composed an opera, Hamlet (Baltimore, Nov. 9, 1962), more than 70 songs, and various piano pieces.
Bibliography
B. Woods, S. K.: His Life and Works (diss., George Peabody Coll. for Teachers, 1969).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire