Fanny Waterman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dame
Fanny Waterman
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Waterman in 2009
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| Born | 22 March 1920 Leeds, England
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| Died | 20 December 2020 (aged 100) Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England
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| Occupation |
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| Chair and artistic director of the Leeds International Piano Competition | |
| In office 1961–2015 |
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Dame Fanny Waterman (born March 22, 1920 – died December 20, 2020) was a famous British pianist and piano teacher. She is best known for starting the Leeds International Piano Competition. This is a very important music competition for young pianists. She also led the Harrogate International Music Festival.
Contents
Early Life and Music Journey
Fanny Waterman was born in Leeds, England. Her father, Myer Waterman, was a jeweler who came to England from Russia. Fanny went to Allerton High School. She started learning piano with a teacher named Tobias Matthay. Later, she won a special scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music. There, she learned from another great pianist, Cyril Smith.
Fanny began playing music for audiences. In 1941, she performed in Leeds with the Leeds Symphony Society. The next year, she played at The Proms, which are famous concerts in London. She played a special piece for three pianos. However, her concert career was stopped by the Second World War. After the war, she often played music with the violinist Erich Gruenberg.
Creating the Leeds International Piano Competition
In the early 1960s, Fanny Waterman noticed something important. She felt that young British pianists needed a big goal. They needed a way to compete with talented pianists from other countries.
So, in 1961, she had a brilliant idea. She teamed up with her friends, Marion, Countess of Harewood, and Roslyn Lyons. Together, they created the Leeds International Piano Competition. This competition quickly became very famous around the world.
Fanny was the artistic director of the competition. This meant she helped decide how the competition would run. From 1981, she also led the judges' panel. She kept these important roles until 2015. Many young pianists who became world-famous started their careers at the Leeds competition. Some of them include Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, András Schiff, and Mitsuko Uchida.
Fanny was also a judge at other big piano competitions. These included the Tchaikovsky Competition and the Chopin Competition.
Teaching and Writing Music Books
Fanny Waterman was a very respected piano teacher. Many of her students became successful pianists. For example, Michael Roll won the very first Leeds competition.
Fanny had strong ideas about how to teach piano in the UK. She believed that things like electronic keyboards and mobile phones could make it harder for students to focus. She also thought that more discipline was needed to create top-level performers.
She wrote many piano instruction books. Her most famous series was called Me and My Piano. She wrote it with Marion Thorpe. This series sold over 2 million copies worldwide! She also wrote a book about the Leeds competition and her own life story.
Fanny also worked at the Leeds College of Music. She helped students who wanted to become advanced pianists. She was also a supporter of The Purcell School for Young Musicians, a special school for young musicians.
Personal Life and Legacy
In 1944, Fanny married Geoffrey de Keyser, who was a doctor. When her first child was born in 1950, she stopped her concert career. She decided to focus on teaching instead. She had two sons. One of them, Paul de Keyser, became a musician and writer about music. Her husband, Geoffrey, passed away in 2001.
In 2010, Fanny was a guest on a popular radio show called Desert Island Discs. Even at 90 years old, she was still teaching and involved in every detail of the Leeds competition. She was known for being very organized and dedicated. She even joked, "They call me Field Marshal Fanny."
Fanny Waterman passed away on December 20, 2020, at the age of 100. She had given her important papers and memories to the library at the University of Leeds in 2017.
Awards and Special Recognitions
Fanny Waterman received many honors for her amazing work.
- She was given the OBE in 1971.
- She became a CBE in 2001.
- She was made a Dame (DBE) in 2005. This is a very high honor in Britain.
She also received special degrees from several universities, including the University of Leeds and the University of York. In 2006, she was given the Freedom of the City of Leeds. This showed how much the city appreciated her contributions.
