Greta Lang
Greta Sonja Lang (9 December 1929 – 4 August 2015) was a Dutch piano teacher and performing musician, known especially as an accompanist, chamber-music performer, and for piano-duo appearances with her husband.
She was born in Yogyakarta and was the only child of architect Joseph Carel Christiaan Lang and Louise Eykelenboom. After the Second World War, she emigrated to the Netherlands with her mother.
Lang studied with Cornelius Berkhout at the Amsterdam Conservatory. She later taught at the conservatory, where she met pianist and fellow teacher Ben Smits. They married on 9 December and later lived in Canada, where they raised three sons and a daughter in Ottawa. Their daughter, Pamela Smits, became a cellist.
As a performer and accompanist, Lang toured with musicians including soprano Klazina van der Vinne, whom she accompanied for more than one hundred concerts over three months in concert halls and schools. She also accompanied cellist Marijke Overberg and formed a piano duo with Ben Smits.
During the 1968–69 season, she performed in a concert series on Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, playing lesser-known chamber music with other musicians. Her appearances included a concerto for two pianos with her husband and the Curom Choir. In 1969 and 1970, the couple performed J. S. Bach's concerto for two pianos, originally written for harpsichord; their performances were also broadcast on radio.
In 1971, the Smits-Lang family moved to Friesland. Greta Lang and Ben Smits performed together in concert venues and at house concerts, and their duo performances were generally well received. Lang continued to teach piano at music schools into later life.