Käbi Laretei

Käbi Alma Laretei (born 14 July 1922 in Tartu) is an Estonian and Swedish concert pianist.

Her father was a diplomat in the service of the Republic of Estonia; when the Soviet Union invaded the country he and his family fled to Sweden. Her piano teacher was Maria-Luisa Strub-Moresco, who had an indirect influence on the artistic choices of Laretei's later husband, Ingmar Bergman. Laretei has had a long and distinguished career as a pianist and in the 1960s. She has played to packed halls in the United Kingdom, Sweden, West Germany and the United States, including Carnegie Hall. She is also known for her marriage to and professional collaborations with film director Ingmar Bergman; Laretei was his fourth wife. They met in the late 1950s, and were married in 1959. She introduced Bergman to a variety of music, some of which he would use in film scores. They divorced in 1969, though the marriage was effectively over by 1966. His 1961 film Through a Glass Darkly is dedicated to Laretei. They had a son, Daniel Bergman, who is also a film director. Laretei worked with Stravinsky and Hindemith.

She has continued to play in concert and give musical consultation on the set of some of her former husband's films and even appears playing the piano in a scene of Fanny and Alexander. She recorded piano passages that appear diegetically in Berman's films, such as Autumn Sonata and The Magic Flute. She took an early interest in the TV medium, has hosted many programmes on literature and music on Swedish TV and since En bit jord (1976; "A lump of earth") has published a number of books on life and music, the latest being Såsom i en översättning (2004; "As in a translation", the title being a paraphrase on "Through a Glass Darkly" (Såsom i en spegel)). Moreover, she has been the subject of numerous television and film documentaries.

She was awarded Estonia's Order of the National Coat of Arms, 3rd Class in 1998.