Ivor Jenkins was one of that fraternity of research metallurgists which worked in support of British industrial development – in war and in peace – in the middle years of the 20th century. During the Second World War he served for two years with the US Navy, initially at the Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago, and later at Palm Beach, Florida, but he contracted scarlet fever and missed the opportunity to go to sea.Returning to his performing career, Lettvin began collecting more awards: the Naumburg Award in 1948; the Michaels Award in 1950; and a finalist’s medal in the 1952 Queen Elisabeth competition in Belgium. The 1950s and 1960s saw him touring extensively on both sides of the Atlantic. By the age of five he was showing such promise under the tutelage of Howard Wells that he was selected to take part in a recital series in Chicago. Two years later he received an award from the Society of American Musicians, and at the age of 12 made his d?t playing a Mendelssohn piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Frederick Stock.At 15 he won a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute His first radio appearance was on the Bell Telephone Hour.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”Theodore Lettvin was the son of Solomon and Fannie Lettvin, Ukranian immigrants who settled in Chicago. “Beauty is in the ear of the listener, the eye of the beholder, the taste of the eater, all of these things – everything that is delicious gives pleasure,” he said shortly before his retirement in 1998. At his audition for the piano professorship at the University of Michigan he was asked what he wanted to play, to which he retorted: “What do you want to hear?” Gyorgy Sandor suggested the fiendishly difficult Prokofiev Toccata, which Lettvin delivered with panache.At the core of his music making was a desire to create a work of beauty. When Lettvin was still a child, the conductor Frederick Stock suggested that a notable career lay ahead for him.

By his teens he was studying with Rudolf Serkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia.Although he will be best remembered for performances of works such as Brahms’ piano concertos and Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Lettvin’s repertoire was varied, and he thrived on challenges. He was also an important figure in the creation of Great Lakes Performing Arts Associates, an organisation that supports gifted artists from that region.Combined with his teaching commitments was an extensive concert schedule. He was variously associated with the University of Colorado (1955-56), the Cleveland Music School Settlement (1956-68), the New England Conservatory of Music (1968-77), the University of Michigan (1977-87) and Rutgers University in New Jersey (1987-98). If the audience is enjoying it, the performer starts to say, ‘Hey, I can play.’ “Given this interactive approach, it is perhaps not surprising that Lettvin spent much of his life in musical academia. “If it’s a good performance for the performer, it’s good for the audience.