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Elizabeth Powell

Premier Prix de Piano, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, Paris;
A.R.C.M. (Associate of the Royal College of Music, London).

Elizabeth Powell was born in 1934 in Strasbourg, France, and gave her first public recital in Nancy in 1938. Taken to England at the outbreak of the Second World War, in 1946 she appeared as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra and in 1948 was chosen to be the first soloist with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

In 1949, she went to the Paris Conservatoire where she was awarded a Premier Prix in 1954. Between 1955 and 1959, she was a medallist at the Geneva International Piano Competition, was awarded a Harriet Cohen International Medal in England, became an Associate of the Royal College of Music, London, won the Lili Kraus Prize for Interpretation at the Rio de Janeiro Piano Competition and took a finalist's medal at the Busoni Competition in Bolzano, Italy. In Paris and London, the Salle Cortot and Wigmore Hall recital series she presented during this period drew exceptional reviews, consolidating her reputation and bringing a full calendar during the 1960s of broadcasting, recital and concert engagements in London and throughout the U.K., with appearances at the Edinburgh Festival and with orchestras such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony and the Bournemouth Symphony.

In Australia from 1971, her career as recitalist and soloist continued with appearances with the principal State orchestras, television and radio broadcasts for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and performances across the continent and overseas. Among many similar engagements around the world, she has served on the jury and as Deputy Artistic Director of the Sydney International Piano Competition. She was appointed to the teaching staff of the Sydney Conservatorium in 1971, becoming Head of the Keyboard Department in 1986. She stepped down from this position in 2004 to focus on performance and the teaching which she continues to enjoy at the Conservatorium High School and in private practice.


© 2007 Elizabeth Powell
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