Valentina Kameníková

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Valentina Kameníková (born Valentine Mikhaylovna Wax; 20 December 1930 – 29 November 1989) was a Ukrainian-born Czech pianist and music teacher. She came from a musical family. In 1941, during World War II, she was evacuated to Siberia because she was Jewish. There she studied piano at a local school in Odesa, then at the Odesa Conservatory, and later at the Moscow Conservatory under Heinrich Neuhaus. She married in 1954 and moved to Czechoslovakia in 1957. From 1959 to 1961 she studied piano at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts with František Rauch. She began teaching at the Prague Conservatory in 1963 and became a lecturer at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts in 1970. In 1976 she served as a jury member for the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition. She was known for her interpretation of Russian music and for her strong piano technique, earning praise from critics. She left behind about fifty recordings.