Donate | NPR Shop | NPR Community | Login | Register
[1 min 54 sec] on All Things Consideredadd to playlist|download
September 26, 2009 - Classical pianist Alicia de Laroccha, whose remarkable career spanned three-quarters of a century, died Friday night in Barcelona, the city of her birth. She was 86.
From her concert debut at age 5, to decades as perhaps the world's leading female pianist, to her final performance just six years ago, she was a towering figure in the classical music world — despite being a physically tiny presence on stage. De Laroccha stood just 4 foot 9.
By the time she reached her 70s, de Laroccha would joke that she was shrinking.
Though she was a master of Mozart, de Laroccha became the definitive interpreter of Spanish composers, including Manuel de Falla.
Comments
Please note that all comments must adhere to the NPR.org discussion rules and terms of use. See also the Community FAQ.
NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.