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Leeds International Piano Competition: Dame Fanny Waterman interview
Dame Fanny Waterman.
Dame Fanny Waterman, the driving force behind The Leeds International Piano Competition – won’t even take a day off on her 92nd birthday.
The indefatigable grandmother will be holding one of her eight birthday celebrations in The Great Hall at the University of Leeds as a fundraiser for the world-renowned contest which has discovered some of the greatest pianists of our time such as Radu Lupu.
Dame Fanny said: “I had the temerity to ask the Vice Chancellor if he would hold a fundraising dinner at the university for me.”
She decided to take advantage of her big day to help fund the competition, which now costs around £1m to stage – a far cry from its £12,000 budget back in its inaugural year of 1963.
Last week (February 1) saw the deadline for entries, with at least 250 ambitious young musicians from around the world sending their hopes and dreams via tapes and CDs for Dame Fanny’s consideration.
That now means day after day spent listening to them all – sometimes for up to 10 hours at a time.
She said: “If your concentration goes or you make a mistake it’s someone’s musical life at stake – I take it very seriously.”
Asked where she still finds her very considerable energy, she replies: “I don’t drink and I don’t smoke.
“I’m motivated and when I get up and the sun is shining and I look out of the window I think how lucky I am – with reservations because I haven’t got my darling husband.”
Geoffrey de Keyser died in 2001 and it’s clear that her love is undiminished.
“One of the greatest gifts of my life was to meet my late, great husband.
“It was a marriage of 57 years, made in heaven.”
She counts her other gifts as “good health, talent, reliability, music and determination”.
All are self-evident. She still teaches on the gleaming Steinways in the lounge of her Oakwood home and says her students’ enthusiasm helps keep her young.
But Dame Fanny is keen to emphasise that after great composers and great musical interpreters who bring their work to life, “the third most important thing are the audiences”.
“If you get people young enough then instead of going to clubs and pubs they go to concerts and it’s for life – music is for life.”
This year’s contest will encourage audience members to cast their votes, with the chance of winning three cash prizes.
Such are Dame Fanny’s incredible achievements and timeless enthusiasm, it’s no wonder the BBC is in the process of making a documentary all about one of the city’s best-known global ambassadors.
It’s expected to be screened around the time of the competition, which is held from August 29 to September 16 at the University of Leeds and Leeds Town Hall.
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