IN MEMORIAM OF CAROLA GRINDEA (1914-2009)

PRESS REVIEW OF
GALA CONCERT & Art Exhibition by Fine Art Escape Gallery
IN MEMORIAM OF CAROLA GRINDEA (1914-2009)

In association with the Royal Society of Musicians

Friday 21st October 2011 at 7.30 pm
Exhibition from 6.30pm

St Mary Magdalene Church
Munster Square, Marylebone NW1 3PT
Nearest Tube: Great Portland St

Bosendorfer Concert Grand kindly provided by Markson Pianos

Bosendorfer Markson pianos

Written by James Brewer

Full of outstanding music in harmony with a display of life-affirming new art, this gathering would surely have delighted the person in whose honour the event was held: the distinguished London piano teacher and therapy advocate Carola Grindea. Former students, associates and well-wishers filled the magnificent 1852 church of St Mary Magdalene, near Regent's Park, for a tribute recital to Professor Grindea, who was born in 1914 in Romania as Carola Rabinovici and who died in July 2009.

The highly sociable pedagogue reached out to musicians, especially those with physical and psychological difficulties, all over the world; and her South Kensington home was a beloved salon for performers, writers and artists.

Many months of planning resulted this October in a moving London concert to celebrate the achievements of Carola.
Organisers of the event, pianists Marina Petrov-Stoykovich and Maya Momcilovic-Jordan played a prominent part in the recital, and in a fulsome tribute, Marina recalled Professor Grindea’s work in fostering awareness of the physical problems and injuries that musicians could suffer, and her radical ideas to provide better support for all performers. It was important that students recognise the physical demands of playing, said Marina. Of her mentor, she said that she had extraordinary communications skills, and a brilliant memory for hundreds of addresses and phone numbers. Carola was tireless, and her last presentation was at a workshop in December 2007. Her admirers played pieces of an appropriately wide provenance, ranging from Beethoven to Rodrigo and Villa-Lobos via Jerry Block (Fiddler on the Roof) and John Williams (Schindler’s List); while the aisles of the nave reflected her wider interests, with a glorious selection of paintings by artists from eastern Europe (whence came many of Carola’s students and patients), courtesy of Aleksandra Ristic’s Fine Art Escape Gallery.