The Extraordinary Life of Nina Simone was Tragic and Empowering

The Extraordinary Life of Nina Simone was Tragic and Empowering

Tim Flight - September 16, 2019

The Extraordinary Life of Nina Simone was Tragic and Empowering
The Juilliard School, 1960s. Juilliard

31. In 1950, 17-year-old Nina studied with the great pianist, Carl Friedberg, at Juilliard School in New York City

Miss Mazzy managed to secure Nina a scholarship to the celebrated Juilliard School of Music after leaving Allen for the summer of 1950. Aged just 17, Nina lived in New York away from her family and friends in a shared house in Harlem. Her main teacher was Carl Friedberg, a former student of the famous Clara Schumann, who had performed with the Vienna Philharmonic amongst others. Nina found herself moving between two very different worlds that summer: the mostly-white world of Juilliard, and the all-black borough of Harlem, but found herself more at home at the former.

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