The pianist who’s been playing for more than 100 years

Colette Maze has been playing piano for more than a century, and is still drawing thousands of fans on social media.

Colette Maze has been playing piano for more than a century, and is still drawing thousands of fans on social media.

Born in June 1914, before the outbreak of World War I and when one of her favourite composers, Claude Debussy, was still alive, the French pianist practices four hours a day and is about to release her seventh album, “108 Years of Piano”.

From her apartment overlooking the Seine river in Paris, Maze moves cautiously between the three pianos in her living room, but retains a youthful enthusiasm.

“Me? I’m young,” she says with a smile.

“Age is not something I’m interested in. There are people who are forever young, amazed by everything, and then there are people who don’t care about anything and never loved anything, even their man -- can you imagine?” she adds.

Maze was a piano teacher for much of her life, and it was only after turning 100 that she started building a significant fanbase — through her Facebook page.

Many are inspired by her continuing good health and refusal to give up the traditional French pleasures of wine, cheese and chocolate.