The French journalist Eve Ruggieri presented Rév the prize.
Rév, born in Budapest in 1916, decided at age five she would be a concert pianist. She studied under Margit Varró and Leó Weiner, but fled Hungary during the Holocaust with a passport from the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. Rév eventually arrived in Paris, which was to have been only a stopping point on the way to New York, but it was here she made her home in the end.
"I felt - and it was a divine feeling - that, although I didn't know the language, I had to stay here," Rév said.
After an acknowledgement from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Rév promised to continue, as long as she had the strength, to work, teach and bring the knowledge and love of music to as many young people as possible.
After being presented the award, Rév played pieces by Chopin and Debussy for the audience of about a hundred invited friends and admirers.
Over the course of her career, Rév has been invited to play by some of the world's best known conductors, among them Sir Adrian Boult, André Cluytens, Eduard Jochum, Ralf Kubelik and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. Her repertoire consists mainly of classical and romantic pieces, but she is happy to play anything from Bach to Bartók. In a "blind test" of music professionals by BBC Radio, Rév's recordings of Chopin's nocturnes were declared the best of the past several decades.
Rév has returned to Hungary more frequently since the 90s, holding master courses and performing. In 2005, she played a solo concert of works by Debussy at the Palace of Arts. In 2006, on her 90th birthday, Rév was presented the Pro Cultura Hungarica prize.
