Becky Silver at different points in her career; also pictured with Kenneth Burward-Hoy (viola) and Fred Sherry (cello)

Becky Silver, 71, a pianist and harpsichordist, died on May 6, 2025. She had been a member of Local 802 since 1976. Also known professionally as Rebecca Silver Weber, she performed in solo and chamber music concerts around the world, as well as at the Aspen, New College and Waterloo Music Festivals. She appeared in performances with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Ms. Silver grew up in Levittown, New York and began her study of the piano at the age of seven. By age 13, she was already teaching professionally. She attended the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan, where one of her classmates was Yo-Yo Ma. (She later said that Yo-Yo Ma “always expressed the kind of humility that is the beginning of great music making.”)

Her love of chamber music was inspired early in studies with pianist Ruth Laredo, violinist Felix Galimi and cellist Leonard Rose. She earned a B.A. from the School of Fine and Applied Arts at Boston University. Later, she was a student of Constance Keene at the Manhattan School of Music (where she earned a master’s) and Samuel Sanders at Juilliard.

In her career, Ms. Silver performed concerts at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., Weill Recital Hall, Cami Hall, Steinway Hall, Symphony Space and on the Queen Elizabeth II.

As artist in residence in piano and harpsichord at the Waterloo Music Festival under conductor Gerard Schwartz, she performed in faculty chamber music and chamber orchestra concerts with violinist Syoko Aki, cellist Ko Iwasaki and French hornist Martin Smith, the former principal horn of the New York Philharmonic.

Ms. Silver was also heard on radio, including the programs “Keyboard Artists” and “The Listening Room,” and on a national broadcast on WETA (Washington, D.C.)

Her musical collaborators included cellists Colin Carr and Fred Sherry, violinist Ik-Hwan Bae, and bassists Tim Cobb and Jeff Bradetich. (The New York Times wrote of her debut performance with Fred Sherry that “what might have been, in more formal surroundings, simply a first-rate chamber concert, became a celebration of the pleasures of making music…endowed with a rare communicative intimacy.”)

She also taught privately and coached chamber music. Local 802 member and bassist Tim Cobb valued the opportunity to work with Ms. Silver as a pianist for his auditions and recitals. Later, Tim was asked to perform as a featured guest with Ms. Silver when she would hold piano recitals with her studio of private students. “She was an extremely nice, generous and very caring person,” said Tim. “She really put a lot of care and thought into her students, making sure they developed well as pianists.”

Ms. Silver was also faculty piano coordinator at the New College Musical Festival, where she gave master classes in collaborative piano, and served as the artistic director and pianist of the Chamber Music from Soho series.

Ms. Silver was a Christian Scientist, which was a big part of her life. In 2000, she was interviewed by the Christian Science Journal, where she said, “To me, the most important quality in communicating music is love – love for the music and for those hearing it. Music is a universal language that can be understood and appreciated only when love is the motivating force behind it.” In the same interview, she said, “I think the most beautiful and satisfying performances I have ever given have come from the understanding that God, Love, is the source of all my expression and that I simply reflect His beauty and perfection as I play. I also like to think of music as a song of praise to God.”  The interview also contains some of her thoughts on teaching, as well as praise for her former classmate Yo-Yo Ma.

Ms. Silver married Andy Weber in 1984 and began to be known professionally as Rebecca Silver Weber. Mr. Weber died in 2014.

Ms. Silver’s only survivor is her husband’s sister Ann Benson. “Becky just lived and died for music,” said Ann. “She loved teaching. She even taught my grandkids. She had a wonderful ear and could hear everything. She had a good sense of humor and loved to laugh.”