MARIA THERESIA Von PARADIS (1759 - 1834), one of the greatest piano virtuosos of her age, and also blind. We don’t know how she went blind, before she was five, but we do know that by the age of 14 she was a sensation in Vienna, toured Europe extensively in her 20s and knew 60 concertos by heart. Mozart wrote one for her, the Concerto "von Paradis". And it doesn’t stop there. In 1785 in Paris she helped found the first school for the blind. Later, in Vienna, she founded a music school for girls and taught right up until her death in 1824. And she composed, prolifically, with a composition board invented for her. Almost all of it is lost
Presented by composer Joan Tower for International Women’s Month in March, written and produced with Charlotte Wilson for WMHT
