Noemi Pismis

also known as: Noemie Pismis, Noemi Pichmichian, Noemi Pichmician

Noemi Pichmichian was born around 1910 in Istanbul (Turkey). In the following years she sometime moved to Hungary and since 1932 studied piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. She attended a piano preparatory class under Emanuel Hegyi in 1932 and then studied with Jenö Kerntler until 1937. In the academy archives she is listed under the spelling Noemi Pichmician.
After her studies Noemi Pichmichian gave several concerts at the Music Academy and other Hungarian venues over the next years. In a later published composition of hers ("Yasmina", for piano), Noemi Pichmichian is titled a professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and the mentioned piano piece is dedicated "a mon maitre Bela Bartok" (=to my teacher Bela Bartok). That indicates that she lectured at the Budapest music academy at some time in the 1940s and maybe took private lessons with Bela Bartok. Be that as it may Noemi Pichmichian can be traced in Hungarian newspapers until 1948, but not later. In the late 1950s she published some compositions at a French publishing house and a manuscript of her from 1956 is signed with the location data Rosny-sous-bois, a small town in the suburbs of Paris (France). So it seems that Noemi Pichmichian emigrated from Hungary to France sometime between 1948 and the early 1950s. In this process she also started to spell her name as Noemi Pismis.
She did not appear in French newspapers of that time and for that reason very likely quit her concert career. It exists a signed music score of one of her piano student compositions which is dedicated to "ma petite Martine Bouguin" which might point to an activity as a private piano teacher. Also all of her own compositions date from around 1955, it seems she exclusively wrote music at that time: a set of piano pieces for students titled "Yasmina donne un recital", a hymn for the Hungarian Revolution titled "23. October" for voice and piano, the piano pieces "Alla turca", "Le grand carillon", "Le torrent" and the song "Loin des jardins" for voice and piano, all published by the Parisian publishing house Philippo between 1954 and 1956.
Curiously no further information about the life of Noemi Pismis is known so far.

Le Bosphore au clair de lune

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the composition "Le Bosphore au clair de lune" for violin and piano by Noemi Pismis. The work was composed in 1959 and is signed at the very end with "26. III. 1959, Rosny-sous-bois". The work is dedicated to the memory of the father of Noemi Pismis. And curiously she writes her name in this manuscript "Noemie Pismis", although all published scores of her music and earlier newspaper articles name her "Noemi".