British concert pianist Dame Moura Lympany was born Mary Gertrude Johnstone today, August 18, 1916, in Saltash, Cornwall. She later took the stage name “Moura” as a Russian version of the name “Mary,” and the last name from her mother’s maiden name, “Limpenny.”
She played her first concert at the age of twelve, playing the only concerto she had memorized, Mendelssohn’s G minor Concerto. As a teenager, she studied music with pianists and teachers Paul Weingarten and Mathilde Verne. Then at age nineteen, she made her London concert debut, and rose to popularity from there.
She was a master of the romantic period (also my favorite era of classical music), offering marvelous performances of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Liszt as heard below, and others.
