Corinne Mayer Collection of Musician Photographs

Corinne Mayer Corinne Mayer was a New Orleans based piano teacher and founder/longtime president of the Philharmonic Society of New Orleans. Born in 1873, Mayer studied piano at Juilliard and in Paris with Harold Bauer. She formed the Philharmonic Society in 1906 and became its president in 1912 when the society was reconstituted as a women’s organization. The Society merged with the New Orleans Symphony Society in 1952, and Mayer became vice-president as well as a member of the executive board and artists committee. Corinne Mayer was responsible for bringing many well-known artists to New Orleans for the Society’s concert series. Mischa Levitzki The Philharmonic Society sponsored the February 9, 1920 performance of Russian pianist Mischa Levitzki (1898-1941). Born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine (then Kieff, Russia) to Jewish, naturalized American parents, Levitzki studied at the Institute of Musical Art (now Juilliard School) and later at the Berlin Hochschule für Musikwhere he was the youngest student of famed composer/pianist Ernő Dohnányi. Maier and Pattison Pianists Guy Maier (1891-1956) and Lee Pattison (1890-1966) met at the New England Conservatory and formed a celebrated duo. After studying with Arthur Schnabel in Berlin, the duo performed across the United States and Europe bothduring and after World War I. They appeared in New Orleans as part of the Philharmonic Society series on March 11, 1922.

Note written by Kelly, Elizabeth Joan