Mary Louise Boehm Collection

Mary Louise Boehm was born in Iowa on July 25, 1924 and enjoyed early recognition as a child prodigy. Her training included lessons with Louis Crowder at Iowa State Teachers College. Following studies at Northwestern University and the University of Nebraska, she took lessons with Robert Casadesus and Walter Gieseking.

Boehm was noted for her pioneering recordings and performances of works by American composers such as Amy Beach and Ernest Schelling. She has also performed works by lesser-known early Romantic composers such as John Field, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Johann Pixis, Ignaz Moscheles and Friedrich Kalkbrenner. In addition, Boehm has performed late Classical and early Romantic works on period instruments.

Boehm enjoyed a concert career of more than fifty years as a collaborative pianist with her violinist husband, Kees Kooper. They performed in the U.S., the Far East, extensively in South America, and in Kooper's native Holland. Mary Louise Boehm died in 2002.