Suzanne Bloch

Suzanne Bloch (August 9, 1907 – January 29, 2002)[1] was a Swiss-American musician and an influential pioneer of Early Music Revival during the 20th century.

She went to Paris to study music with Nadia Boulanger in 1925, and decided to become a lute player after hearing an early-music concert.

In 1935 she performed at the Dolmetsch Early Music Festival in Haslemere, and soon afterward returned to New York, where she began her concert career.

Her career as a lutenist was cut short in the 1950s by repetitive stress syndrome brought on by the modern heavily built Hermann Hauser lutes that she played, but her condition allowed her to continue to play early keyboards and sing.

She raised their autistic son alone, and was able to help him gain nearly total social functionality through self-designed art therapy.