Agathea Filgate, a renowned and beloved classical pianist and piano teacher, passed away peacefully on Saturday, July 20th, surrounded by her loving family.
Born Agathea Alberta Hudock on May 17, 1926 in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, Agathea grew up in Old Greenwich, CT in Tod’s Point. She began playing piano as a young girl and received honors in the National Piano Contests before she was a teenager. She graduated high school at fifteen and attended the Curtis Institute of Music on a scholarship, where she studied with the famous musician Mieczysław Horszowski. She was a pianist with Phil Spitalny’s All-Girl Orchestra in the 1940s for three years, traveling around the country and performing on The Hour of Charm, a popular radio show that aired on NBC and CBS.
A Ridgefield resident since 1962, Agathea founded the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra in 1965, attracting high caliber musicians whose performances were very well received. She toured around the world as a piano duo with King Bosworth, performing in major European cities including Berlin, London, Zurich, Salzburg, and Amsterdam.
A fiercely loyal and devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, nothing made her happier than her family. She loved going for walks around the lake, watching football and tennis, reading (she was caught reading behind a garment rack as a teenager while working at a store), making the best homemade soups, and watching the birds from her sunroom. A lifelong learner until the day she died, she believed that teaching was a sacred act. It’s a gift she instilled in her children and grandkids. Known as “Mimo” to all who loved her (chosen by Mimo herself—it’s an inversion of Mommy), she was one-of-a-kind.
Friends will be received on Thursday, July 25th from 4:00 to 7:00 pm at Kane Funeral Home, 25 Catoonah Street, Ridgefield; a prayer service will be offered at 6:30 PM on Thursday evening at the funeral home. Internment will be private.