Jonas, Maryla

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Jonas, Maryla

Jonas, Maryla, Polish pianist; b. Warsaw, May 31, 1911; d. N.Y., July 3, 1959. She was a precocious child pianist, and appeared in public at the age of 8. She took lessons with Turczynski and was commended by Pad-erewski. She began her professional career as a concert pianist at the age of 15. After the invasion of Poland in 1939, she made her way to Rio de Janeiro, and gave a series of concerts in South America. She then went to N.Y., where she made an exceptionally successful debut in Carnegie Hall (Feb. 25, 1946). Her auspicious career was thwarted by an irremediable illness.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire