Ode to Marjo Tal | Internationally celebrated pianist and composer

She studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory and after graduation on a scholarship in London. In early 1940, she made her soloist debut at Diligentia concert hall in The Hague. In 1942 she was soloist with the piano concerto No. 1 by Felix Mendelssohn- Bartholdy in the Hollandsche Schouwburg just before it was designated a place of deportation. After that, Marjo Tal also had to go into hiding and all her musical works written up to that point were lost.

In the 1950s, Marjo Tal went on tour to the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Belgium and Israel. In addition to the classics, she also played her own compositions. Tal composed some 200 chansons on texts by leading French poets; they were sung by Catherine Sauvage, Mouloudji, Beatrice Moulin, Jacques Douai and Nicole Louvier, among others. Marjo Tal also sang those songs herself in programs in which she performed before intermission with a classical piano repertoire and after intermission as a chansonnière, accompanying herself on the piano. Usually in the Small Hall of the Concertgebouw and the Institut français des Pays-Bas in Paris.

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