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Dame Fanny Waterman obituary

Dame Fanny Waterman obituary
Barry Millington
© Provided by The Guardian
Photograph: Simon Wilkinson/Rex/Shutterstock
Virtually synonymous with the Leeds International Piano Competition, which she co-founded in 1961, Dame Fanny Waterman, who has died aged 100, was a music teacher who became one of the most prominent personalities in the musical world.
“I dreamed it up one night,” she said of “the Leeds”, as it became known universally, “and I was so excited that I woke up my husband.” Unlike Waterman, who was born in Leeds, her husband, Geoffrey de Keyser, a doctor, was a Londoner and his reaction was: “It won’t work in Leeds, it has to be in a capital city.” She stuck to her guns, however, and launched the triennial competition in her own city, raising funds from individuals, banks, local businesses and the Leeds Corporation. Her husband provided support, both moral and practical, as did her friend and fellow co-founder, t ....

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Dame Fanny Waterman, forceful founder of the Leeds International Piano Competition – obituary

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 ....

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