Colette was a founding member of the South Bay Chamber Music Society and remained an active board
member for twenty-five years. Attributes she brought to the society included her career as a performing
pianist and teacher, her sense of humor, and her warmth. The South Bay Chamber Music Society
concert on May 5, 1995 was dedicated to her memory.
Colette was born in New York in 1898 and attended the Juilliard
School. She studied piano with Olga Steeb, Carl Leimer, Alex
Lambert, and Victor Aller. She gave concerts in New York
(1917), Boston (1918), with the Glendale Orchestra (1927), and
at the Los Angeles Biltmore (1933). The Los Angeles Times
wrote, "Colette is an artist of unusual sensibility whose talent
places her among the leading pianists of today." In 1959, Colette gave a recital
(program) in La Cartuja de Valldemosa, Mallorca, the place of Chopin's sojourn with
female novelist George Sand.
Colette moved to the South Bay where she lived with her husband at 121 via Los Miradores in Redondo Beach for many years .