5 astonishing 100-year-old+ pianists


01 May 2024
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By Ellie Palmer
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If you need some inspiration today, just take a look at these 5 incredible pianists; all past the age of 100 but still playing the piano!

Randolph Hokanson

Pianist Randolph Hokanson wasn't a typical resident at Bayview Retirement Community in Seattle. This centenarian had a special talent that he is sharing with those around them. 

Hokanson, who was noted for his recordings of Bach, Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Mendelssohn throughout his lifetime, passed away in 2018 at the age of 103.

 

 

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Florence Vigod

Florence Vigod, 102 years old at the time of this video in September 2017, had forgotten most of her life's memories after she was diagnosed with dementia and alzheimers at the age of 94.

However, when Florence started playing the piano at the care home she was living in at the time, some of her memories were triggered. She began to remember many pieces she had learned during her lifetime, including Take Me Out to the Ballgame, the Canadian National Anthem, and You Are My Sunshine!

Florence passed away in April 2019.

 

Ruth Everson

To be putting on piano recitals every day is a big ask for anybody, but 103-year-old Ruth Everson makes it look very easy (103 at the time this video was filmed).

Every lunchtime at this assisted living place in Minnesota, Ruth plays for her fellow residents. "You meet a lot of people playing the piano, and I'm a people person. I like to be happy."

Ruth started playing the piano when she was five years old. Her parents had to sell a cow in order to afford a piano for her.

 

Irving Fields

Irving Fields dedicated his whole life to the piano. He was a lounge music pianist and recorded for Decca Records, selling millions of albums.

Even at the age of 100, he was still playing five nights a week in various New York bars!

Fields passed away in 2016 at the age of 101.

 

 

Madame Thai Thi Lien

Watch this extraordinary vide of Madame Thai Thi Lien performing Chopin's Mazurka in A minor Op 67 No 4 at an event in Vietnam to honour her career.

Madame Thai Thi Lien was the mother of pianist Dang Thai Son, a former Chopin Piano Competition winner. She passed away five years later at the age of 107.