Myspace Layouts - Myspace Editor
On the 31 May 1924, at the rue des Moulineaux in Suresnes, at 2:30 in the afternoon, a little girl with large black eyes was born. She was called Ida Yvette. Ida's father, Claude Montagnon, was a French professional piano teacher. Her mother, Grazia Lo Presti, was of Italian birth. When Ida was about four, her father began her formal musical education. He started teaching her solfeggio (ear training), and since he could not begin teaching her the guitar because the instrument was still far too large for her to hold, he started making her exercise her hands. He developed a series of finger exercises for her, and even gently pulled her left-hand fingers apart so that she would develop a better ability to stretch. Ida received her first music lessons on the piano at the age of five from her father. At the age of six she changed over to the guitar and soon showed that this was the instrument on which her extensive musical talents would be exposed. Ida was to give her first public recital in 1932, at the age of eight, making her concert debut in Paris two years later. Regarding Ida's stage name, it had been firmly decided upon. Whether just because it sounded good, or as an homage to Grazia, the name selected was an abridged version of her mother's maiden name: PRESTI. On 13th February 1938, she was given the honour of being the first guitarist to be invited to play at the Soci..t.. des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris. This Conservatoire was founded in 1828, and never before had a guitarist appeared who was considered good enough to play before this austere gathering of renowned virtuosi. On the occasion of the Centenary of Paganini's birth, in 1940, Ida Presti played his guitar in a commemorative concert. All her performances were outstanding, and over the next twenty years she was to make extensive concert tours both in France and abroad. Ida Presti also appeared in a French film entitled 'Le petit Chose', out in Paris 8th june 1938 by the cinema "Normandie". The marriage with Henri Rigo, and a daughter, Elisabeth (1944). The divorce. Then, in 1952, she met classical guitarist Alexandre Lagoya at the home of a mutual friend, Andr.. Verdier. A year later on 23th May 1953 they were married. Two years later the Lagoya-Presti guitar duo made its first public appearance. Regarded as the finest classical duo the world has ever known, Presti and Lagoya were to perform two thousand concerts all over the world. Together they founded a prestigious guitar class at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, and made several magnificent recordings for the Philips Record Company, which bear testimony to their greatness. A son, Sylvain. Tragically, whilst preparing for a concert in New York City, on 24th April 1967, Ida Presti, one of the finest classical guitarists of all times, suddenly fell ill and died shortly afterwards from an internal haermorrhage resulting from cancer of the lung.