19 Facts About Yaltah Menuhin

Yaltah Menuhin was an American-born British pianist, artist and poet.

Yaltah Menuhin was named after her mother, Marutha's, home town of Yalta in Crimea.

At the age of three, she became part of the rigorous regime already imposed on her siblings: the family employed tutors for the children, and Yaltah Menuhin had her first piano lessons from the wife of the tutor in harmony and counterpoint.

Yaltah Menuhin was taken to Paris at the age of four when Yehudi and Hephzibah went to study there.

However, Yaltah so impressed him with her spontaneous rendition of Schumann's Kinderszenen that he remarked, "Mrs Menuhin's womb is a veritable conservatory," and agreed to take her on as well.

Yaltah Menuhin's taking piano lessons did not mean that her parents considered her - or for that matter, Hephzibah - capable of pursuing a career in music: Yaltah's mother in particular was firmly opposed to the idea that her daughters would follow in Yehudi's footsteps.

Yaltah Menuhin played a pivotal role in the careers of numerous young composers, particularly during her stay in Los Angeles in the 1950s.

Yaltah Menuhin had a great love of chamber music and performed the sonata literature of the violin, viola and cello, as well as works for larger groups.

Yaltah Menuhin gave many first performances of works by Erich Zeisl, George Antheil, Ernst Krenek, Frank Martin, Louis Gruenberg, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Walter Piston.

Yaltah Menuhin recorded for Everest, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, SPA, Music Library and EMI-World Record Club.

Yaltah Menuhin's tours took her from Alaska to New Zealand; from Texas to Switzerland.

Yaltah Menuhin appeared in duo recitals with cellists Gabor Rejto, George Neikrug, Guy Fallot and Felix Schmidt; violinist Israel Baker; violists Michael Mann and Paul Doktor, and with Joel Ryce in duo-piano with whom she performed regularly in recital, in double concertos, and in television specials in Paris, London and New York.

Yaltah Menuhin married Ryce in 1960, and their 40-year marriage was a happy one.

Highlights of Yaltah Menuhin's career include a performance for Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle in 1973, when she played the Schubert Notturno with Yehudi and Ross Pople; the Mozart Double Piano Concerto with Hephzibah for the Willa Cather centenary celebrations in America, and a recital with Joel at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, when they played Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion.

Yaltah Menuhin's recorded favourites include the "family" recording of the Mozart Triple Concerto and the four-hand piano duets of Mozart with Joel.

Yaltah Menuhin was a co-founder in 1965 and director of "Arts and Music", an international non-profit social project for the benefit of young artists and the arts in general.

Yaltah Menuhin took a very keen interest in youth orchestras and frequently performed with the Brighton Youth Orchestra, undertaking tours in Wales with Aelodau'r Gerddorfa, the all-Wales Youth Orchestra.

Yaltah Menuhin died at her home in London on 9 June 2001, just a few days after giving her final recital at the Orwell Park School, Suffolk, of which she was Honorary Patron.

Yehudi Yaltah Menuhin wrote of her in his autobiography that she was "reaping the rewards in kindness and gratitude that life has otherwise denied her".