Biographical Note
Mildred Spiegel was born June 12, 1916, in Boston, Massachussetts. She studied piano and music theory at the Julia Lubit Pianoforte School and with Heinrich Gebhard. As a member of the Madison Trio, a group she formed with Dorothy Rosenberg (violin) and Sara Kruskall (cello), Spiegel performed throughout New England. After graduating with honors from the Julia Lubit School, Spiegel taught at the school for thirteen years. In 1951, she took a sabbatical and traveled to Israel, a destination suggested by Bernstein. After her marriage to Zvi (Harry) Zucker in Israel, the Zuckers moved to the United States where Mildred continued giving private music lessons, as well as teaching in the music departments of Lowell State University and the Westchester Conservatory. She and her husband settled in White Plains, New York where she now resides. Her husband passed away in 2012. Spiegel met Leonard Bernstein when he was fifteen, and it was she who recommended that he study with Gebhard. For years, she and Bernstein met every week to play piano duets at the Harvard Musical Society, and every weekend for six years to attend the Boston Symphony. They remained life-long friends.
From the guide to the Mildred Spiegel Zucker Collection of Leonard Bernstein Correspondence and Related Materials, 1936-1991, (bulk 1936-1951), (Music Division Library of Congress)
