Canadian pianist rushed to hospital in mid-recital

The Austrian-born Canadian pianist Anton Kuerti was helped off stage in Florida last night after meandering and repeating passages during a Beethoven recital. A medical emergency was identified and he was taken by ambulance to hospital.

Here’s an eyewitness account from our friends at South Florida Classical Review:

Kuerti’s growing disorientation and numerous stops and starts during the second of the Eleven Bagatelles, Op. 119, signaled clearly to the large audience that something was terribly wrong.

Santiago Rodriguez, professor of keyboard performance at the Frost School of Music, gently approached Kuerti mid-piece, and eventually succeeded in coaxing him off the stage to a standing ovation.