“When World War II drove 17-year-old Mary de Csepel and her family out of Hungary in 1944, she spent two years in Portugal before coming to the U.S. in 1946,” writes Jennifer Turiano in Sunday’s (12/10) Greenwich Time (Greenwich, CT). “As a child in Hungary, she studied at a conservatory in Budapest … with aspirations to become a piano teacher. She continued on that path in the United States [at Oberlin Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music]…. Fast forward 71 years: Mary Radcliffe, 90, lives with her husband Richard in their eastern Greenwich home and still focuses much of her time on music. In 2018 she will have served as president of the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors for 35 years…. Throughout her career, Radcliffe taught piano privately. She said it took her some time to discover the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra while raising four young boys … but it didn’t take her long to get involved once she did…. ‘I heard this orchestra and I just knew it was an excellent orchestra,’ [Radcliffe says].” Danny Miller, the orchestra’s principal cellist and personnel manager, says, “She has this whole Old World dedication to music…. And she cares deeply about musicians.”
Posted December 12, 2017
Pictured: Mary Radcliffe, 90, has been the president of the Greenwich Symphony Board of Directors since 1983. She is about to celebrate her 35th year in the position.
