María Teresa Gertrudis de Jesús Carreño García (December 22, 1853 – June 12, 1917) was a Venezuelan pianist, soprano, composer, and conductor.

[2] Carreño was an early adopter of the works of one of her students, American composer and pianist Edward MacDowell (1860–1908) and premiered several of his compositions across the globe.

Her mother was a cousin of Maria Teresa Rodriguez del Toro y Alayza, wife of South America's founding father Simón Bolívar, on whose honor she was named.

[8] During the first few weeks in New York City, she met American pianist and composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who heard her perform and promoted her as an artist.

98 (Johann Nepomuk Hummel), accompanied by a quintet (Mosenthal, Matzka, Bergner, C. Preusser); Grande Fantaisie sur Moise, Op.

[10] This debut was followed by concerts (1863–1865) across the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States, including stops in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.[11] During the fall of 1863 Carreño performed for Abraham Lincoln at the White House.

[14] During her time in Paris, she met many prominent musicians, including Gioachino Rossini, Georges Mathias (a pupil of Frédéric Chopin who may have given her a few lessons), Charles Gounod, and Franz Liszt.

Her preparation enabled her to step into the role of and appeared as the Queen in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots during a performance with the Colonel Henry Mapleson troupe in Edinburgh, Scotland, after the leading lady, Thérèse Tiejens (1831–1877), became ill.[17] In New York, on February 25, 1876, she again performed in an operatic role, this time as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni.

[18] In 1872, she returned to the United States with an artist troupe (led by Max Strakosch (1835–1892)) consisting of well-known musicians, including American singer Annie Louise Cary, operatic soprano Carlotta Patti, French violinist and composer Émile Sauret, baritone Signor Del Puente, and Italian tenor Giovanni Matteo de Candia, who went by the stage name of Mario.

March 23, 1874), who was left in the care of a family friend, Mrs. James Bischoff, while Carreño and Sauret pursued musical opportunities in the United States.

Between 1876 and 1889, Carreño resided and toured primarily in the United States, sharing concert bills with famous operatic singers, including Adelina Patti, Emma Abbott, Clara Louise Kellogg, Emma C. Thursby, and Ilma De Murska, and musicians, including violinist August Wilhelmj[25] and Giovanni Tagliapietra.

During their marriage, the couple often appeared on the same concert bill and Carreño began performing works by d'Albert, including his Piano Concerto no.

D'Albert was a controlling individual in matters related to child rearing, household management, and even Carreño's repertoire choices, which resulted in the exclusion of MacDowell's music from her performances during their marriage.

Her magnificent technique displayed to the highest degree the marvelous sonority of the Knabe piano, upon which she played, and she received one of the greatest ovations of the season.

She performed under the baton of many prominent conductors, including Edvard Grieg, Gustav Mahler, Theodore Thomas, Wilhelm Gericke, Hans von Bülow, and Henry Wood.

In his memoir, Henry Wood wrote that "It is difficult to express adequately what all musicians felt about this great woman who looked like a queen among pianists – and played like a goddess.

The instant she walked onto the platform her steady dignity held her audience who watched with riveted attention while she arranged the long train she habitually wore.

"[40] Among the most frequently performed composers in her repertoire were Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, MacDowell, Schumann, Rubinstein, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Weber, and occasionally her own.

Amongst her students were her early biographer Marta Milinowski, as well as Fanny Nicodé née Kinnel, Helen Wright,[41] and Julia Gibansky-Kasanoff.

[45] Carreño and A. Tagliapietra returned to New York City in September 1916 for a 1916–1917 concert season with performances planned across the United States and Cuba.

The majority of her works were composed before 1875 and were published by various publishers in locations including Paris (Heugel, Brandus & S. Dufour), London (Duff & Stewart), Madrid (Antonio Romero), New York (G. Schirmer, Edward Schuberth), Boston (Oliver Ditson & Co.), Philadelphia (Theodore Presser), Cincinnati (The John Church Company), Leipzig (Fr.

A finding aid is available for the extant Teresa Carreño Papers at Vassar College in the Archives & Special Collections Library.

It houses primary source materials, including correspondence, legal documents, concert programs, scores, reviews, photographs, and other personal items.

The Sala de Exposición exhibits materials once owned by Carreño, including her concert dresses, Weber piano (recovered through the efforts of Venezuelan pianist Rosario Marciano), and other personal items.

As of June 1, 2015 Andreina Gómez began directing a feature film, Teresita y El Piano, about the life of Teresa Carreño.