Ketzel, NYC Cat That Wrote Piano Piece, Dies at 19

A cat that won a prize for musical composition has died at age 19 in New York City.     

Ketzel gained fame after she leapt onto the piano in 1996 and made her way down the keyboard. Her owner, Morris Moshe Cotel, transcribed the notes Ketzel hit with her paws.     

Cotel was a retired professor of composition who died in 2008. His widow, Aliya Cheskis-Cotel, told The New York Times that her husband called Ketzel his best student.     

He entered the cat's brief piano piece in a competition sponsored by the Paris New Music Review and it was awarded a special mention in 1997.     

Ketzel means "cat'' in Yiddish.    

She died July 13.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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