Musical Genealogy
The Lineage
Three piano lineages and two conducting traditions converge in one artist. Each chain represents a direct teacher-to-student transmission spanning centuries.
Piano
Quito
The Beethovenian line through Liszt and Busoni
Ludwig van Beethoven
1770–1827
The foundation of the Viennese classical tradition
Carl Czerny
1791–1857
Student of Beethoven; pedagogue who transmitted the master’s method
Franz Liszt
1811–1886
Virtuoso pianist and composer; reshaped piano technique and concert culture
Ferruccio Busoni
1866–1924
Pianist-composer; bridged Romantic tradition and 20th-century modernism
Guido Agosti
1901–1989
Italian virtuoso; carried the Busoni tradition into the postwar era
Christo Iliev
Transmitted the Liszt–Busoni lineage to South America
Boris Cepeda
b. 1974
Quito. First studies in the Beethovenian line
Bremen
The North German line through Fischer and Leygraf
Franz Liszt
1811–1886
The source of two separate lineages reaching Cepeda
Martin Krause
1853–1918
Last significant student of Liszt; teacher of Arrau and Fischer
Edwin Fischer
1886–1960
Swiss pianist; known for Bach and Mozart. Teacher of Brendel
Hans Leygraf
1920–2011
Swedish pianist and pedagogue at the Salzburg Mozarteum
Kurt Seibert
Carried the Fischer–Leygraf tradition in Bremen
Boris Cepeda
b. 1974
Bremen. The North German strand of his training
Paris
The French school through Cortot and Deshausses
Alfred Cortot
1877–1962
Defining voice of the French Romantic piano tradition
Edwin Fischer
1886–1960
Also a source of the Bremen line; connects both strands
Monique Deshausses
Student of both Cortot and Fischer; French pedagogical tradition
Boris Cepeda
b. 1974
Paris. The French strand of his training
Conducting
Swarowsky Line
From Weingartner and Richard Strauss through Vienna
Felix Weingartner
1863–1942
Successor to Mahler at the Vienna Court Opera; Beethoven authority
Richard Strauss
1864–1949
Composer-conductor; led opera houses in Munich, Berlin, and Vienna
Hans Swarowsky
1899–1975
Vienna’s master teacher of conducting; mentor to Abbado and Mehta
Joachim Harder
Carried the Swarowsky method into the next generation
Boris Cepeda
b. 1974
The Viennese conducting tradition
Dessau Line
From the Staatskapelle Dresden tradition
Staatskapelle Dresden
est. 1548
One of the oldest orchestras in the world; cradle of the German conducting tradition
Karl Förster
1904–1963
Kapellmeister who preserved the Dresden sound through the war years
Kurt Rohde
Continued the Staatskapelle legacy in the GDR era
Wolfgang Kluge
Transmitted the Dresden tradition to the reunified Germany
Boris Cepeda
b. 1974
The Staatskapelle Dresden conducting tradition
The South American Thread
Two of South America’s greatest musical figures — Gerardo Guevara of Ecuador and Astor Piazzolla of Argentina — both studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Boris Cepeda performs the music of both, embodying the same Parisian tradition across two hemispheres.
Nadia Boulanger
1887–1979
Composition teacher. Paris. Students included Copland, Carter, Piazzolla, Guevara.
Gerardo Guevara
1930–2022
Ecuador’s foremost composer. Studied with Boulanger in Paris.
Astor Piazzolla
1921–1992
Argentina’s revolutionary tango composer. Studied with Boulanger in Paris.
Boris Cepeda
b. 1974
Performs the music of both Guevara and Piazzolla — the same Parisian tradition, two hemispheres.
Recognition
Steinway Artist
Since 2021
The Steinway Artist roster includes Martha Argerich. It also includes Boris Cepeda. Both were formed, at some distance, in the tradition of Vicente Scaramuzza — the Buenos Aires pedagogue whose method produced, among others, Argerich herself. In 2021, Steinway & Sons recognised what the lineage already knew.
Five traditions. Five centuries. One artist.