Karel van Ark
Karel 'Pieter Hendrik van Ark' was a Russian pianist, music teacher, and composer.
Biography
Karel van Ark was of Dutch origin. He was born on 28 August 1839 in Saint Petersburg. His father was the organist of the Dutch Embassy Church in Saint Petersburg and a Dutch teacher. He received general education at the Peter and Paul Male Lutheran School.A student of Theodor Leschetizky and Nikolai Zaremba, van Ark became a teacher at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory from its founding in 1862, invited by Anton Rubinstein. He was initially an assistant to Leschetizky before becoming a professor in 1879. Van Ark was awarded the Order of Saint Stanislaus, Order of Saint Anna, and the Order of Saint Vladimir during his forty years of teaching at the conservatory.
Aside from his position at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, van Ark also gave lessons at the Saint Petersburg Russian Musical Society and the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens.
He died on 24 August 1902 in Saint Petersburg and was buried at the Volkovskoye Cemetery on 27 August. Among his students were: Nikolai Abramychev, Anna Yesipova, Alexander Medem, Sophia von zur Mühlen, Paul de Conne, Nikolai Shishkin, Sergei Bortkiewicz, Pavel Weymarn, Viktor Kolomytsev, Nikolai Tcherepnin, and Lev Steinberg.