When Mrs. Esther Allen Bentley, back in her native Bermuda for the past year, heard that the Matilda Smith Williams Seniors' Residence was closed for renovations, she decided to raise funds for the institution that had cared for her mother, sister and aunts.

Mrs. Bentley was one of the Island's first (if not the first) black Bermudians to gain admittance to one of the world's great music institutions. When she was only 17-years-old, and with the financial help of the AME church, she went off to study piano, organ and voice at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Since then, she has lived mostly abroad, in New York and London, where she has rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, while pursuing a life dedicated to performing and teaching music.

Now she has gathered an impressive list of artists who will join her in a concert to be held at the St. Paul Centennial Hall this coming Sunday.

At 91 years of age, she sees nothing remarkable in the fact that she has organised this event single-handedly, and is confident of its success. "Don't worry, I'm going to see it's full -- I've sold $500 worth of tickets, already! And I'm charging $20 for patrons, and only $10 for ordinary tickets. I told them that charging more than $10 was too much for people to pay.'' When The Royal Gazette visited her last week, she was fretting about her appearance, and the fact that she had just had her photograph taken without her lipstick on. As for reassurances that she doesn't look her age, she agreed. "I had to get my passport out to prove my age, the other day! But why would I lie? What woman would want to make herself older, if it wasn't true?'' Her concert, entitled `Four Seasons Musical programme' will feature the St.

Paul AME Senior Choir ("they're the best''), Jay Butler, the young violinist, harpist Stephen Rawlinson, Kingsley and Suzanne Swan, Leslie Stevens and Lucy Douglas, Ann Marie DeFontes, Tracey Spencer, Nina Dill, Lights of Guidance, and Danny Hill on the piano.

Mrs. Bentley will also perform, including a piece she composed herself. She says: "Most of the piano keys don't get used that much, so I wrote a piece for all 88 keys! People seem to like that one -- there's been a request for me to play that.'' Music is by no means her only interest. She swims regularly and says she loves tennis. Asked if she still played, she replies, "No! I play at it!'' She believes her good health in old age is partly due to her diet (she is a vegetarian and drinks six or seven glasses of boiled water a day). She says she also likes to study psychology, which for her, has a very practical application. "It's all very simple, really. If you try to run a business, but you don't know how to treat your employees, or your customers, you're not going to have a good business! You don't need to study psychology to be pleasant, but an awful lot of people just don't know how to talk to one another. If I go shopping, I don't want to be served by someone who won't look me in the face. If they ask if they can help me, I say "No'', because they look so miserable. People tell me I expect too much, that I want to have my cake and eat it too. Well, that's right -- that's what I'm used to!'' Announcing that she has no desire for "my behind sitting on a piano stool all day'', she also instituted health classes for about 35 people in New York "to stop them from getting fat. We need sleep and good food, the best of food.

I've had fellas ask me out and I tell them, `You'd better get that stomach down -- I don't want to be going around with people looking like that!' People eat too much starch and not enough greens. I prefer to eat out, I don't like cooking anymore. I like to go to a restaurant. If I go to a party, I'll have a glass of wine or brandy, that's about all. I like Harvey's Bristol Cream, too, but I prefer to keep drink in the house, rather than in my stomach.'' Noting that there have been many changes in Bermuda over the years, she admits that most people here no longer know her. "I left here as a teenager, so half the people I knew are either dead or in St. Brendan's. Marjorie Bean is my great pal, though!'' After Juilliard, Mrs. Bentley also studied at the Guilmant Organ School and studied technique and harmony at the New York School of Music.

"One of my chief teachers was Lou White and he told me I was one of his best pupils. I was always practising, always at the piano, so when I was young I never the chance to be dancing in a fella's arms!'' In a career that has included playing along with such musical greats as Duke Ellington and `Count' Basie (she was a close friend of Basie's wife, and says she got her `jazz tips' from them), Mrs. Bentley specialised in the classics.

She will be playing music by Mendelssohn and Grieg in her concert.

Asked if she missed being involved in music, she retorts, "Well, I was playing for weddings, parties and funerals until I was 90 -- now, I refuse.'' The Four Seasons Musical Programme takes place at the St. Paul Centennial Hall on Sunday, May 28 at 5.30 p.m. Tickets at $20 ($35 per couple) and $10 general admission are available from St. Paul AME Church Office. All proceeds in aid of the Matilda Smith Williams Seniors' Residence.