Music
Ruth Laredo
1937–2005 · classical pianist
Detroit-born pianist, 'America's First Lady of the Piano', who made the first complete recording of Scriabin's ten sonatas after hearing Horowitz play Scriabin in Detroit as a child.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
New York City, New York
aged 67- Birth name
- Ruth Meckler
- Also known as
- America's First Lady of the Piano
- Detroit years
- 1937–1955
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Ruth Meckler was born in Detroit in 1937, the daughter of a piano teacher and an English teacher, and could pick out God Bless America on the piano at two. In 1946 her mother took her to hear Vladimir Horowitz at the Masonic Auditorium; he played Scriabin, and the eight-year-old decided to become a concert pianist and fell for Russian music for life. She played as a child for the Music Club of Metropolitan Detroit, and at eleven gave her first recital at the Detroit Institute of Arts and made her debut with the Detroit Symphony under Karl Krueger. After Mumford High School (1951–1955) she studied with Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute. In the 1970s she became the first pianist to record all ten Scriabin sonatas and then recorded Rachmaninoff's complete solo piano works for CBS. For sixteen years she hosted Concerts with Commentary at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Highlights
- First complete recording of Scriabin's ten piano sonatas
- Recorded Rachmaninoff's complete solo piano works for CBS, 1974–1981
- Debut with the Detroit Symphony at age eleven under Karl Krueger
- Mumford High School, Detroit, 1951–1955
- Hosted Concerts with Commentary at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 1946
Masonic Temple
Where eight-year-old Ruth heard Vladimir Horowitz play Scriabin in 1946 and resolved to become a concert pianist.
Performed here · about 1948–1949
Detroit Institute of Arts (Friday Night Live!)
Laredo gave her first solo recital at the museum at age eleven.
Studied here · 1951–1955
Mumford High School
The northwest Detroit public high school Laredo attended from 1951 to 1955.