Born:  August 8, 1903 ((Mancelona, MI)

Died: April 13, 1985 (Newton, MA)

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Ruth Culbertson, pianist, was born in Mancelona, MI where she received her early musical studies, studying later at the New England Conservatory with Mme. Antoinette Szumowska, graduating in 1926 with the Mason and Hamlin prize. In addition, she performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

She was a winner of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation competition in 1930,later traveling to Germany to study with Artur Schnabel. She presented her New York debut recital under the auspices of the Naumburg Foundation on February 7, 1931 in Town Hall. Following concertizing throughout the US, Ms. Culbertson devoted herself to teaching, serving on the faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, and in Boston at the Cambridge Adult Education Center.

‍A review from her NY debut recital appears below:

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N.Y. American, February 8, 1931

"An afternoon of piano music was apparently enjoyed yesterday at Town Hall. The performer was Ruth Culbertson, a talented and ambitious young interpreter, whose list embraced nearly three centuries of style in composition. She plays, as her only classic offering, Bach's G major "French" suite, and after Schumann's Sonata, approached the present day school with Slominsky's Jazzelette. Modern tone poems by the American Griffes and a group of Chopin, completed the printed program"

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