Talented musician excelled as a teacher

Gabriel D’Abruzzo was an “amazing, brilliant performer.”

“He could play anything from pop to ragtime to jazz to classical — flawless,” said his wife, Rachel D’Abruzzo.

Mr. D’Abruzzo, a wellknown Pittsburgh musician, drowned Monday in the Atlantic Ocean near Ocean Grove, N.J., according to authorities there.

Mr. D’Abruzzo, 42, of Forest Hills, began struggling soon after he entered the water about 9:40 p.m., The Associated Press reported. Bystanders pulled him out and performed CPR, but he was declared dead at a hospital shortly after that. There had been “major riptides all that week” that claimed other lives, Ms. D’Abruzzo said. She said he was visiting with his parents and a sister when the accident occurred.

A performer and music instructor, Mr. D’Abruzzo was an adjunct professor of piano at Saint Vincent College, as well as an accompanist for the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, Fox Chapel Area High School and Moon Area High School. He was an organist and choir director at a number of Pittsburgh area churches, including East Liberty Presbyterian Church.

Ms. D’Abruzzo recalled a time when he heard a Beethoven concerto on the radio and began playing along. When she asked him whether he had played the piece before, he said he might have read through it a few times, but had not practiced it beyond that.

“He was that talented,” she said.

Even at a young age, it was clear that Mr. D’Abruzzo was a musical standout. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Duquesne University, he studied with world-renowned pianist Vladimir Feltsman and received his master’s degree from the State University of New York.

He used his experience as a “brilliant pianist” to excel as a teacher, said Rev. Stephen Concordia, a music professor at Saint Vincent.

“His students have always appreciated him as a person and a teacher. He was someone who taught by example,” Father Concordia said. “He was always very helpful to everyone who needed his help.”

For all his musical accomplishments, though, Ms. D’Abruzzo said Mr. D’Abruzzo’s compassion and humility were some of his most impressive qualities.

He was “very warm, very compassionate, very kind,” she said.

“He loved the people around him. He was very empathetic and tried to meet people on their level.”

Funeral arrangements are pending. They are being handled by the Patrick. T. Lanigan Funeral Home, Turtle Creek.