Born: 1920 (Houston, TX)

Died: May 1957 (Greenwich, CT)

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Pianist Jeanne Therrien was an American child prodigy and concert pianist who was often compared to Van Cliburn. She was raised in Houston, Texas. Her mother was an accomplished pianist and her father a tenor and composer. She attended the Juilliard School of Music graduating in 1943 where she studied with Carl Friedberg.

She received many accolades as a teenager and young woman, and in 1944, was named the winner of both the Leventritt International Competition as well as the Walter W. Naumburg Competition.

She gave her New York debut in Town Hall as a Naumburg winner on February 22, 1945. The New York Times called her "brilliant and scintillating."

On January 28, 1945, she appeared in Carnegie Hall performing Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 1 with the Philharmonic-Symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein. The performance was broadcast by CBS. In 1948, she performed the Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 1 with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy as well as two appearances with the Boston Pops conducted by Arthur Fiedler. After 1948, she stopped performing.

She joined the Juilliard faculty upon graduation, becoming Juilliard's youngest faculty member at age 23.

She played concerts in major venues in the 1940s, but in the 1950s she developed depression that resulted in her suicide in 1957 at age 36.

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