Nora the Piano Cat (September 10, 2004 – February 5, 2024) was a gray
tabby cat, rescued from the streets of
Camden, New Jersey
Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...
, by the Furrever Friends animal shelter. Nora gained international prominence after a YouTube video of her playing the piano went viral in 2007. ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' of London, in its online edition, characterized her music as being "something halfway between
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
and
free jazz
Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...
".
The
National Science Foundation
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
has included Nora in a video about animal behavior which was shown in museums in the fall of 2007. ''Pianist Magazine'', based in London, featured her in an article.
[. Mentioned in: ]
On February 5, 2024, Betsy Alexander, one of her owners, announced Nora's death on her Facebook page: "She passed peacefully at home on her favorite blanket and surrounded by us".
CATcerto
In 2009, recorded footage of Nora was included in
CATcerto, a piece by Lithuanian composer
Mindaugas Piečaitis.
The first performance of the piece, by Piečaitis and the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra, was widely broadcast on the Internet.
[ ]
See also
*
Animal-made art
*
Zoomusicology
*
List of individual cats
This is a list of individual cats who have achieved some degree of popularity or notability.
Before the modern era
* Nedjem or Nojem (Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''nḏm'' "Sweet One" or "Sweetie"), 15th century BC. The cat of Puimre, second p ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Nora's Original YouTube performanceNora YouTube sequelNora's websiteDean Santomieri website
{{Authority control
2004 animal births
2024 animal deaths
21st-century pianists
Camden County, New Jersey
Individual cats in the United States
Zoomusicology