Colette Maze has been playing piano for more than a century, and is still drawing thousands of fans on social media.
Born in June 1914, before the outbreak of World War I and when one of her favorite composers, Claude Debussy, was still alive, the French pianist practices four hours a day and is about to release her seventh album, 108 Years of Piano.
From her apartment overlooking the Seine river in Paris, Maze moves cautiously between the three pianos in her living room, but retains a youthful enthusiasm.
Photo: AFP
“Me? I’m young,” she said with a smile. “Age is not something I’m interested in. There are people who are forever young, amazed by everything, and then there are people who don’t care about anything and never loved anything, even their man — can you imagine?”
Maze was a piano teacher for much of her life, and it was only after turning 100 that she started building a significant fan base through Facebook.
Many are inspired by her continuing good health and refusal to give up the traditional French pleasures of wine, cheese and chocolate.
“She gives people strength — that’s why she has such crazy success,” said her son, journalist Fabrice Maze, adding that she is one of the few people over the age of 100 releasing albums.
She still remembers the sound of “Big Bertha,” the huge cannon used by the German army during World War I, but most of her memories revolve around her instrument.
“When I was little, I suffered from asthma and my mother would play violin with my piano teacher; it would calm me,” she said.
“Piano is my life, my friend. I need to feel it and hear it,” she said, before offering a rendition of Debussy’s Reflections in the Water.
Maze began playing at age five, and despite reluctance from her parents, she won a place at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with teachers including the renowned Alfred Cortot.
Cortot was known for a method of relaxing all the muscles of the body — which Maze credits with sparing her from arthritis.
The other secret to her youth?
“I did a lot of dancing,” she said. “I need to feel my muscles, my abdominals, my thighs, my arms. All that must be alive.”
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
RSS