Elsie Hall

Elsie Maude Stanley Hall (22 June 1877  27 June 1976) was an Australian classical pianist.

She was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, the oldest daughter of William Stanley Hall, a journalist, and his wife Mary Ann, née Sadgrove, a piano teacher.[1] She took up the piano at the age of three, and was a child prodigy.[1]

In 1888 she enrolled at the Stuttgart Conservatory in Germany.[1] In 1890 she was awarded a pianoforte scholarship at the Royal College of Music, but declined and instead studied at Harrow Music School under John Farmer, and then at the Royal High School for Music in Berlin.[1] Her patron there was Marie Benecke, eldest daughter of Felix Mendelssohn.[1]

She spent many years in South Africa, where she performed professionally on the piano well into her senior years. In 1958 (at age 80) she made a well received tour of South Africa with Dutch violinist Herman Salomon, who had previously gained his reputation as leader of The Amsterdam string Quartet.[2]

She appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 28 April 1969.[3]

She died on 27 June 1976 at Wynberg, South Africa, and was buried at Hout Bay Cemetery.[1]

Autobiography

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, June 24, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.