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In Memory of
Niels J.
Ostbye
Ostbye
1924 - 2018
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Obituary for Niels J. Ostbye
In March a former piano student of Niels Østbye’s came from Maine to visit. The pediatrician and life-long amateur pianist had come to pay a final visit in tribute to his teacher, saying, “He changed my life.”
Niels Østbye died on March 19 at his home in Grandview-on-Hudson, NY at the age of 93 after a long illness. Over a career that spanned more than seven decades, Østbye taught generations of students at Mannes College of Music, The Juilliard School, and, as head of the piano program, at Columbia University. Born in Norway, he studied with Reinar Rieflin, Georg Vasarahelyi, and with Edwin Fischer, whose training represented an unbroken line back to Carl Philipp Emanual Bach. He graduated from the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music’s Orchestral Conducting Program and, as a concert pianist played in the United States and Europe, including tours sponsored by the Norwegian Education Department. He played more than 30 concerts at the Bergen International Festival. He came to the United States in 1952 as a Fulbright Fellow.
As a teacher he was known for the precision and insight he brought to instructing young pianists, whether they intended their studies to lead to a career or simply to a musically enriched life.
He is survived by his husband, Bruce Weitzmon; sisters Elisabeth Hurlen and Mette Sverem, and brother Vilhelm Bøgh, all of Norway; and brother Kjell, of California.
Niels Østbye died on March 19 at his home in Grandview-on-Hudson, NY at the age of 93 after a long illness. Over a career that spanned more than seven decades, Østbye taught generations of students at Mannes College of Music, The Juilliard School, and, as head of the piano program, at Columbia University. Born in Norway, he studied with Reinar Rieflin, Georg Vasarahelyi, and with Edwin Fischer, whose training represented an unbroken line back to Carl Philipp Emanual Bach. He graduated from the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music’s Orchestral Conducting Program and, as a concert pianist played in the United States and Europe, including tours sponsored by the Norwegian Education Department. He played more than 30 concerts at the Bergen International Festival. He came to the United States in 1952 as a Fulbright Fellow.
As a teacher he was known for the precision and insight he brought to instructing young pianists, whether they intended their studies to lead to a career or simply to a musically enriched life.
He is survived by his husband, Bruce Weitzmon; sisters Elisabeth Hurlen and Mette Sverem, and brother Vilhelm Bøgh, all of Norway; and brother Kjell, of California.
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