Coming Home

Pianist Ruth
Laredo's career
has taken many
turns, but she
always enjoys
returning to
Detroit

SUZANNE CHESSLER

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

VV

hen interna-
tional pianist
Ruth Laredo
performs with
the Detroit
Symphony Or-
chestra (DSO)
to celebrate the 75th anniversary
of Orchestra Hall, she will find
herself in a setting that awakens
memories of her own musical his-
tory.
A former Detroiter who de-
buted with the DSO at age 10,
Ms. Laredo recalls many early
performances around the state
and her beginning studies, first
with her mother, piano teacher
Miriam Meckler, and later with
Edward Bredshall and Mischa
Kottler.
"I'm so happy to be coming to
Detroit for this particular event,"
said Ms. Laredo, who will appear
Oct. 7-9 to encore the program
that opened the hall on Oct. 23,
1919. "It's a fascinating idea, and
I'm very thrilled to be chosen as
one of three pianists to com-
memorate that first concert."
With James Tocco and Robert
Conway also at keyboards, the
orchestra will reprise pieces by
Weber, Mozart, Bach and
Beethoven.
"My mother used to attend
concerts at Orchestra Hall when
it was first built," Ms. Laredo
said. "She heard Ossip Gabrilow-
itsch (the first musical director)
conduct many times and told me
so much about that. I just wish
that she and my father were alive
so they could attend one of our
October concerts. I think it would
mean a great deal to them."

Ruth Laredo has deep Detroit roots.

Ms. Laredo, who appeared at
Orchestra Hall with Mr. Tocco
a couple of years ago to mark the
500,000th Steinway to be con-
structed, had an early Septem-
ber rehearsal in New York with
both of her co-stars.
"I'm very lucky that I have
three pianos in my house," she
said. "I have two Steinway
grands, and I have a little Yama-
ha that can be moved from one
room to the other.
"James and I did our Mozart
for hours and hours, and then
Rob came and practiced on the
third piano, which is in another
room. When we were ready to do
the Bach triple, the two guys
moved the third piano into the

room with the two big Steinways,
and we did our number. We had
a good time."
Their work on the "Concerto
for Three Pianos in C Major"
builds on a similar performance
she gave in Israel a few years ago
as part of a tour that also fea-
tured chamber music.
"My career is a little different
than a lot of other careers," said
the musician, who began playing
by ear as a preschooler. "Usual-
ly there is one big event that
brings about a change, but I've
been taking little steps through-
out my life.
"I just kept going with one
Ching after another, end it's been
a cumulative kind of career

rather than one, sudden, cata-
pulting event that changed my
life."
After graduating from Mum-
ford High School, the artist was
accepted into the Curtis Institute
of Music in Philadelphia, where
she met her former husband, a
violinist with whom she per-
formed in the United States and
overseas.
Ms. Laredo — a three-time
Grammy nominee for albums
capturing the music of Rach-
maninoff, Scriabin and Samuel
Barber — recalls many exciting
live performances, some part of
a seven-season series she plans
for New York's Metropolitan Mu-
seum of Art, "Concerts With

Commentary."
"This is a project that has be-
come very important and suc-
cessful in a way that I never
dreamed," said the instrumen-
talist, who does extensive re-
search for each program.
"Wnen it began, it was just me
alone. I stood up and talked and
then played. I would find out
what really went on in the per-
sonal lives of the composers and
would tell their stories and play
their music.
"I have guest artists now, and
we've had sell-out crowds."
This season's selections will re-
volve around composers affiliat-
ed with world-acclaimed
conservatories.
"Pm very interested in politics
and what goes on in Washington,
so it was a great thrill for me to
perform at a state dinner given
by President and Mrs. Johnson,"
she said. "We had dinner at the
White House, and there were in-
teresting guests and dancing af-
terwards. It was just glorious."
Among other outstanding ex-
periences have been her New
York Philharmonic debut with
Pierre Boulez and her New York
orchestral debut with Leopold
Stokowski.
Her recent tour of Russia and
the Ukraine — highlighted by
recitals in Moscow, St. Petersburg
and Odessa — formed part of an
extensive television profile on the
CBS program "Sunday Morning."
Ms. Laredo's visits to Michigan
are not always work-related. She
enjoys spending time with Michi-
gan relatives, including her sis-
ter, Rayna Kogan.
"My sister's son just graduat-
ed from Michigan State Univer-
sity so I was there for the
weekend of that event," said the
pianist.
"My sister had a big open
house to celebrate his graduation
and her beautiful new home. It
was nice to be part of that."
Similarly, Ms. Laredo was hap-
py that her sister and niece were
able to join her in Wales last sum-
mer to attend the wedding of the
pianist's only daughter, a musi-
cal instrument specialist for
Sotheby's.
Maintaining a Music Study
Club scholarship in memory of
their mother remains important
to both Meckler daughters. The

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