Louise Meiszner (August 24, 1924 – June 30, 2008) was an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and music educator. Her married name was Louise M. Nathanson. The daughter of Lujza Eberhardt, a concert pianist, and John Meiszner, a flautist, both immigrants from

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, she was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. A child prodigy, she began playing the piano at the age of three and gave her first public concert at the age of five. In 1930, the family moved back to Hungary, where she attended the

Franz Liszt Academy of Music The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music ( hu, Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the ...

for eight years. At the age of thirteen, she was invited by Austrian composer

Erich Kleiber Erich Kleiber (5 August 1890 – 27 January 1956) was an Austrian, later Argentine, conductor, known for his interpretations of the classics and as an advocate of new music. Kleiber was born in Vienna, and after studying at the Prague Conservato ...

to perform with his orchestra as a soloist. In 1938, she returned to the United States and appeared in concert with the Kansas City Philharmonic. She continued her education at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

, graduating in May 1945. In the same year, she received the Leventritt Award. Meiszner performed with most of major orchestras in the United States and Europe, including the

New York Philharmonic Orchestra The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure ...

and the

Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra The Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra ( Hungarian: ''Budapesti Filharmóniai Társaság Zenekara'') is Hungary's oldest extant orchestra. It was founded in 1853 by Ferenc Erkel under the auspices of the Budapest Philharmonic Society. For many years i ...

. In 1959, she married Martin Jay Nathanson, an Illinois businessman; the couple had one child and Meiszner retired from performing. When her son Kevin began playing the flute during the early 1970s, she began playing again to accompany him. She also on occasion accompanied musicians performing in the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

area. During the 1980s, she began teaching part-time at Augustana College and

Rivermont Collegiate Rivermont Collegiate, formerly St. Katharine's/St. Mark's School, is a nonsectarian, independent, multicultural, college preparatory school for students two years old through twelfth grade, located in the Quad Cities in Bettendorf, Iowa, in the ...

. Meiszner died at the Trinity Medical Center in

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Rock Island Arsenal, Arsenal Island. The popul ...

at the age of 83.

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* 1924 births 2008 deaths American classical pianists American music educators American women music educators American women classical pianists Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni Juilliard School alumni Augustana College (Illinois) faculty 20th-century classical pianists Musicians from St. Louis American people of Hungarian descent 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists {{US-pianist-stub