'Beloved' Bemelmans Bar Pianist Dies At 72

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Robert Moskowitz, a longtime pianist at Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle hotel known professionally as Rob Mosci, has died. He was 72 years old.

Bemelmans Bar, on East 76th Street and Madison Avenue, announced the pianist's death in an Instagram post on Jan. 9, leading to an outpouring of heartfelt messages from many of its longtime patrons.

One local wrote that Mosci had helped orchestrate her now-husband's proposal to her by playing a rendition of "The Way You Look Tonight," and another called Mosci the "soul of Bemelmans."

Mosci played piano for most of his life, he wrote on his website. He grew up in a musical family in Queens and went on to study piano and saxophone at Boston's Berklee College of Music, he previously wrote.

When he returned to New York City, his career followed a trajectory that reads like a map of New York City's most iconic and sophisticated "old New York" nightclubs.

He played regularly at clubs in Greenwich Village, including a steady gig at The Other End, before becoming the resident musician at many of the Beekman Tower Hotel's Top Of The Tower, the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room, and then at the Water Club overlooking the East River, before joining The Carlyle's Bemelmans Bar.

During his long career as a musician and jazz pianist, Mosci put out seven albums, the most recent one published in 2022 which featured songs by Grammy-winning songwriter Hugh Prestwood, East Side Feed reported.

Mosci died Dec. 25 at Staten Island University Hospital’s Addeo House, near where he lived with his wife and two children, according to Staten Island Live.

"It is with deep sorrow that we share the passing of beloved pianist Rob Mosci," the hotel bar wrote on Instagram. "His artistry helped shape Bemelmans Bar for nearly fifteen years, and his music accompanied countless great evenings for our community."

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