Jeremy Nicholas pays tribute to this British pianist who became a national treasure owing in part to her instigation and dedicated promotion of a wartime concert series in London
Our introduction to the greatest classical pianists and their most essential recordings, complete with links to the original Gramophone reviews. Featuring Martha Argerich, Vladimir Horowitz, Igor Levit and Maria João Pires
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Born March 22, 1920; died December 20, 2020
The founder of The Leeds Piano Competition and admired piano teacher, Dame Fanny Waterman, has died at the age of 100.
Born in Leeds, Waterman studied with Tobias Matthay, and later at the Royal College of Music, London, with Cyril Smith. After an impressive career as a soloist, including a performance at the 1942 Proms with Sir Henry Wood (playing as one of the pianists in Bach s Triple Keyboard Concerto), she felt that her real vocation would be as a teacher. Over the years she gave masterclasses on six continents, appeared on television and radio, and compiled a series of publications entitled
Dame Fanny Waterman, forceful founder of the Leeds International Piano Competition – obituary
‘A combination of human dynamo and bulldozer’, she transformed her city from a classical backwater into the capital of piano music
Dame Fanny Waterman in 2010
Credit: Rob Scott/Rex
Dame Fanny Waterman, who has died aged 100, was the author of books and graded tutors which nurtured the talents of young pianists throughout the world; in 1963 she founded the triennial Leeds International Piano Competition, which launched the careers of such virtuosi as Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu.
Affectionately known throughout Leeds as “Field Marshal Fanny”, Fanny Waterman made up with her iron will and Yorkshire blunt-speaking for what she lacked in physical stature. One former winner of the Leeds competition described her as “a combination of human dynamo and bulldozer” and, until she was well into her nineties, she presided over the event with nit-picking attention to detail – proof-r