12-21-2020, 01:50 PM
British pianist and teacher Fanny Waterman
Dame Fanny Waterman DBE (22 March 1920 – 20 December 2020) was a British pianist, academic piano teacher, and the founder, chair and artistic airector of the Leeds International Piano Competition. She was also president of the Harrogate International Music Festival and a patron of The Purcell School for Young Musicians.[1]
Waterman was born in Leeds; her father, Myer Waterman, a Russian Jew, had emigrated to England to work as a jeweller.[2] She began to study with Tobias Matthay[3] at age 18; she started giving public performances, and in 1941 opened the concert season in Leeds with the Leeds Symphony Society.[2] She won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music and studied with Cyril Smith.[3] In 1944, she married Dr. Geoffrey de Keyser and in 1950, with the arrival of her first child, gave up her concert career and concentrated on teaching. Her son Paul de Keyser also became a musician and music author.[4]
By the early 1960s, Waterman felt that young British pianists needed a goal to give them a competitive edge over overseas pianists. In 1961, jointly with her pianist friend Marion, Countess of Harewood (later Marion Thorpe) and Roslyn Lyons, she founded the Leeds International Piano Competition. She was Artistic Director of the competition and, from 1981, chair of the competition jury, holding the posts until 2015.[3] Finalists of the competition who began an international career based on it include Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Sunwook Kim, Federico Colli, Eric Lu, András Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, Lars Vogt and Denis Kozhukhin.[3] Her contribution to the city of Leeds was recognised in April 2006, when she was given the Freedom of the City.[3] Waterman was Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Piano Performance at Leeds College of Music until 2006.[3]
She was the guest for BBC Radio Four's Desert Island Discs in July 2010. Although then aged 90, she was still teaching masterclasses and continued to be involved with every detail of the Leeds competition. "They call me Field Marshal Fanny" she said, "I am a busy breeches."[5]
Waterman was the Honorary President of the Harrogate International Festivals since 2009.[1]
Waterman turned 100 on 22 March 2020.[6] She died at a care home in Ilkley on 20 December 2020.[3]
Waterman was appointed OBE in 1971, CBE in 2001 and DBE in the 2005 New Year Honours. She was also awarded the degree of Doctor of Music (DMus) honoris causa by the University of Leeds in 1992.[7]
Dame Fanny Waterman DBE (22 March 1920 – 20 December 2020) was a British pianist, academic piano teacher, and the founder, chair and artistic airector of the Leeds International Piano Competition. She was also president of the Harrogate International Music Festival and a patron of The Purcell School for Young Musicians.[1]
Waterman was born in Leeds; her father, Myer Waterman, a Russian Jew, had emigrated to England to work as a jeweller.[2] She began to study with Tobias Matthay[3] at age 18; she started giving public performances, and in 1941 opened the concert season in Leeds with the Leeds Symphony Society.[2] She won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music and studied with Cyril Smith.[3] In 1944, she married Dr. Geoffrey de Keyser and in 1950, with the arrival of her first child, gave up her concert career and concentrated on teaching. Her son Paul de Keyser also became a musician and music author.[4]
By the early 1960s, Waterman felt that young British pianists needed a goal to give them a competitive edge over overseas pianists. In 1961, jointly with her pianist friend Marion, Countess of Harewood (later Marion Thorpe) and Roslyn Lyons, she founded the Leeds International Piano Competition. She was Artistic Director of the competition and, from 1981, chair of the competition jury, holding the posts until 2015.[3] Finalists of the competition who began an international career based on it include Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Sunwook Kim, Federico Colli, Eric Lu, András Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, Lars Vogt and Denis Kozhukhin.[3] Her contribution to the city of Leeds was recognised in April 2006, when she was given the Freedom of the City.[3] Waterman was Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Piano Performance at Leeds College of Music until 2006.[3]
She was the guest for BBC Radio Four's Desert Island Discs in July 2010. Although then aged 90, she was still teaching masterclasses and continued to be involved with every detail of the Leeds competition. "They call me Field Marshal Fanny" she said, "I am a busy breeches."[5]
Waterman was the Honorary President of the Harrogate International Festivals since 2009.[1]
Waterman turned 100 on 22 March 2020.[6] She died at a care home in Ilkley on 20 December 2020.[3]
Waterman was appointed OBE in 1971, CBE in 2001 and DBE in the 2005 New Year Honours. She was also awarded the degree of Doctor of Music (DMus) honoris causa by the University of Leeds in 1992.[7]
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.