Anita Socola Specht (June 1871 - November 11, 1958) [1] was an American composer,[2] pianist,[3] and singer who was president of the Louisiana State Federation of Music Clubs[4] and helped found the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra.
[7] By 1889, Socola began lessons under the guidance of Marguerite Elie Samuel at the Southern Academic Institute at 216 Coliseum Street.
[9] She was only 13 when she made her debut at the Grunewald Opera House, where she met her future husband, conductor William Henry Bernard Specht.
[5] She won the title “best amateur pianist in the United States” at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago,[12] although some of the judges told her, “You are not an amateur, you are an artist!”[6] Specht helped found the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra (today the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra) in 1887, and was elected president of the Louisiana State Federation of Music Clubs in 1921.
[5] Before her death in 1958, Specht established the still-active Giunio Socola Memorial Award for excellence in public debate at the Jesuit High School of New Orleans.