Piano

Above all else, she makes a beautiful sound. Some singers are willing to forgo sound quality to put emotion behind a text. But in her Friday-night recital for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society at the Perelman Theater, mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink swathed story after story in an unfailingly civilized tone. Argentinean with Slovenian roots, Fink has the twin virtues of richness and clarity. Often it was impossible to separate her polish from that of her pianist, Anthony Spiri. In the fourth in a set of Schumann songs on texts by Nikolaus Lenau, "The Herdsgirl," Fink's sound was nearly indistinguishable from Spiri's right hand, so neatly matched were they in pitch and color.

AMID THE COLLAPSED facade of New Thankful Baptist Church, at 18th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, on Aug. 11, 2009, was a piano that was clearly visible in the wreckage. It was the piano that Sarah Caine Young had played at services. In fact, Sarah was the first pianist and organist at the North Philadelphia church, and her music accompanied the gospel hymns that resonated in the building for more than 20 years. Sarah Young, a 35-year employee of the U.S. Department of Human Services, a doting mother and grandmother and world traveler, died Sunday.

It was evident from the outset of Friday's performance that Ramsey Lewis was in a playful mood. He opened with "Wade in the Water," an appropriate number for a sold-out audience that had just walked in from a gray, rainy day. But it was a tease: Lewis suddenly interpolated Irving Berlin's "Heat Wave" into what had been a hushed, lyrical solo. The 77-year-old piano great maintained that jocular mood throughout his 90-minute set at Montgomery County Community College's Science Center Theater, though often at the expense of his much younger sidemen.

"There's a bit of a performer in everybody," says Al Rinaldi, who ought to know. The Mount Laurel resident, 75, has played and sold pianos for more than a half-century. The venerable Steinway & Sons gave him a lifetime achievement award in August. And starting Friday, his Jacobs Music store in Cherry Hill will host a three-day, outdoor "perform-athon" featuring 70 professionals, semiprofessionals, and students playing for charity. Scheduled pianists include doctors, lawyers, an animator who works part-time in a Center City restaurant, a rabbi, and a dentist.

Conditions were less than ideal when the Bad Plus first played Chris' Jazz Cafe in 2003. The club's notoriously tuning-resistant piano was crammed into a narrow corner opposite the bar. Young fans drawn by the band's penchant for covering Nirvana and Blondie hits crowded around cross-legged on the floor, uncomfortably close. Yet the irreverent jazz trio kept coming back, and this weekend they helped celebrate Chris' 22d anniversary with a two-night stint Friday and Saturday. Much has changed at Chris' over the last nine years.

JEAN MAY GASKINS was a lonely child. Sure, she was doted on by her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and she made friends at school. But until her sister, Claudia, was born, something was always missing. Her parents gave her numerous pets to keep her occupied, and through them she hit upon a way to exercise her early urge to be a teacher. She would make the pets her students - whether bird, dog, cat and even a pig. She tried to teach them the ABCs and to count to 20. Needless to say, her success rate was limited.

To view a video of the maestro and the piano-playing cat, go to:

SHE WAS 88 years old, but here's how an interviewer described her in 2009: "Her gold-toned pants with matching top, large jeweled earrings that sparkle brilliantly as they catch the light, and her gold high heels serve as the ideal ensemble within a beautifully aged home that is dripping with old Hollywood elegance. " That was Willa Ward, agelessly beautiful and still radiating the electric energy that made her a star as a member of the legendary Ward Singers, the Philadelphia-based gospel group, and later when she began singing pop standards on her own. Renowned for her beauty, talent and charm, Willa also was a fine pianist who could have had a career on the piano.

The internationally renowned Romanian pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa, 33, has been found dead in her apartment in Vienna. The musician's agent, Andreea Butucariu, said in a statement Friday that Ms. Ursuleasa died Thursday from the effects of a cerebral hemorrhage and asked for her family's privacy to be respected. Police in Vienna confirmed the cause of death. Butucariu told Romanian media that Ms. Ursuleasa had recently canceled two concerts in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, on unspecified health grounds.

GO AHEAD. Play the art. The University City District's new project, Heart & Soul, employed eight local artists to gussy-up pianos that will be placed around University City from Thursday-June 17. The project kicks off Wednesday with a party at The Porch at 30th Street Station, where pro key ticklers will try out the pianos before they get put on the streets. Although Philadelphia is no stranger to public art projects, both permanent and temporary, it's rare that they have a participatory element (aside from posing beside it and mugging for a photo, of course)