Nonagenarian Ruth Slenczynska Plays Paris in the Spring

A 90th birthday celebration is usually a gathering of some friends and family, offering a chance to reminisce, swap stories, and eat cake.  Ruth Slenczynska plans to have her cake and eat it, too, by following her 90th birthday in January with a trip to Paris...to work. At an age when most of us have long since slowed down to at least look at the roses if not smell them, Ruth Slenczynska is busily practicing for a performance in Paris made up of "Chopin nocturnes, seldom-heard mazurkas and technically challenging ballades," according to the New York Times. Her recital career began when she was four.  She was already such an amazing talent that the Baldwin Piano Company made a set of piano legs which were six inches shorter than the standard, so young Ruth could reach the pedals.  The legs traveled with her wherever she performed. Not only is she still performing, she keeps up a busy rehearsal schedule, teaches master classes, and has a small number of private students who come to her New York apartment. At the age of nine, she stood in for Sergei Rachmaninoff when he was unable to perform in Los Angeles.  She would wind up studying with him - and is now his last living student.  She still has formidable technique, which you'll see in the video below made in 2010.  If you would like to hear more of her amazing talent, you can visit the website of Ivory Classics, started by pianist Earl Wild with Michael Roland Davis to preserve and focus on the piano repertoire. Next time I think I'd just like to sit around and putter with things, I'll only have to think of Ruth Slenczynska...that should get me moving. Read Pianist Ruth Slenczynska, 89, Shows No Signs of Diminuendo (NY Times) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB546B1_ZFo