An die Musik

Ruth Meckler was born on November 20, 1937, as the elder of two daughters of Miriam Meckler-Horowitz, a piano teacher, and Ben Meckler, an English teacher, in Detroit, Michigan. When she was only two years old, she was already able to play God Bless America on the piano of her mother, without being taught. When she was eight years old, her mother took her to a concert of Vladimir Horowitz in the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit. After the concert she vowed to become a concert pianist herself. Horowitz played Scriabin, and Laredo was so fascinated by this music that she developed a lifelong passion for Scriabin and other Russian composers, including Scriabin’s contemporary Rachmaninoff.