Emahoy Tsegué Mariam Gebru — Jerusalem/S-T (Mississippi)
Emahoy Tsegué Mariam Gebru passed away on March 26, 2023 at age 99. She led an extraordinary life (readers are urged to consult Sound Within Sound: Opening Our Ears to the Twentieth Century by Kate Molleson (Faber) for a revealing chapter on her work). It culminated with her becoming a nun in Ethiopia. She continued to make music, idiosyncratic piano compositions that were a melange of styles: French Impressionism, Chopin-esque Romanticism, Ethiopian Coptic liturgical music, traditional music of Africa, and the light pop of mid-century teahouses. Despite its unorthodox pedigree, Gebru’s has snuck into popular awareness via arthouse film soundtracks, and even an Amazon advertisement.