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