This biography is the first-ever telling of the compelling story of a remarkable woman and pianist. Adele aus der Ohe was born and raised in Germany. She played her orchestral debut at the age of ten and became a student of Franz Liszt at the age of twelve. She arrived in America young and unknown was an immediate success and quickly became one of the most sought-after artists of her day.
She toured from St. Petersburg Russia to San Francisco and California. She was a favorite of the Boston Symphony and performed with this venerable organization an astonishing fifty-one times. When Carnegie Hall was dedicated the finest musicians of the day were engaged-Tchaikovsky to conduct and aus der Ohe to solo. She became a friend of Tchaikovsky and he invited her to St. Petersburg to perform his Piano Concerto in B-flat minor at the same concert that featured the premier of his Pathetique Symphony which turned out to be Tchaikovsky's final performance. Aus der Ohe performed in the opening seasons of both the Chicago Symphony and the Minneapolis Symphony and was chosen to give the inaugural performance when the Schubert Club of St Paul Minnesota established their International Artists Series.
In her later years she lived and taught in Berlin and late in her life befriended Sergei Rachmaninoff. She died in 1937 having survived the First World War and the Great Inflation that followed.
LaWayne Leno was born and raised in rural North Dakota where he studied piano with Belle Mehus and her sister Alma Mehus-Studness both students of Adele aus der Ohe. He continued his piano studies with Oxana Yablonskaya of the Juilliard School and completed his education at the University of Mary in Bismarck North Dakota. He became a certified public accountant and after a twenty-year career in computer consulting returned to his first love-piano teaching. LaWayne currently resides in Dellwood Minnesota. This biography is his first published book.