Kyla Betty Greenbaum (5 February 1922 - 15 June 2017) was a British

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

, the younger sister of conductor and composer Hyam Greenbaum. She gave the first UK performance of

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

’s Piano Concerto in 1945 and the first of

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

’s Second Piano Concerto in 1955. Greenbaum was born in 1922 in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

to a Jewish Russian father (born in Karlisz Poland but sent to the UK as a child to train as a tailor) and an English mother and (like her brother two decades earlier) she received her first musical training at home. She went on to study at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke ...

(1938–42) and then in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

. She first attracted notice as a pianist during the second world war as a regular performer at the famous

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

wartime lunchtime concerts organised by

Myra Hess Dame Julia Myra Hess, (25 February 1890 – 25 November 1965) was an English pianist best known for her performances of the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann. Career Early life Julia Myra Hess was born on 25 February 1890 to a J ...

. The grand piano she owned for many years afterwards was scratched when the ceiling collapsed on it as she was hiding underneath during a German bombing raid. Her evident virtuosity quickly led to performances of challenging and otherwise neglected romantic and contemporary music repertoire, such as

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

's Piano Concerto No 2 with the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

conducted by

Constant Lambert Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 190521 August 1951) was a British composer, conductor, and author. He was the founder and music director of the Royal Ballet, and (alongside Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton) he was a major figure in th ...

on 5 May 1945, and (on 30 May 1945 with

Frederick Thurston Frederick John Thurston (21 September 1901 – 12 December 1953) was an English clarinettist. Career From the age of 7 he was taught by his father and he won an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music, becoming a pupil of Charles Drap ...

and others) the first broadcast performance of

Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

's Quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano. Other contemporary works she championed were

Alan Bush Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed pro ...

's ''Le Quatorze Juillet'' (on 17 February 1948), James Iliff's Piano Sonata (which is dedicated to her),

John Lambert John Lambert may refer to: *John Lambert (martyr) (died 1538), English Protestant martyred during the reign of Henry VIII *John Lambert (general) (1619–1684), Parliamentary general in the English Civil War * John Lambert of Creg Clare (''fl.'' c. ...

's Piano Sonata (played at

Morley College Morley College is a specialist adult education and further education college in London, England. The college has three main campuses, one in Waterloo on the South Bank, and two in West London namely in North Kensington and in Chelsea, the la ...

on 14 March 1954) and

John Greenwood John Greenwood may refer to: Sportspeople * John Greenwood (cricketer, born 1851) (1851–1935), English cricketer * John Eric Greenwood (1891–1975), rugby union international who represented England * John Greenwood (footballer) (1921–1994) ...

's Piano Quintet. She also contributed to the revival in interest of the music of Charles-Valentin Alkan, broadcasting four recitals of his music in 1948. On 28 August 1945, aged just 23, Greenbaum made the first of 13 appearances as a soloist at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

with a performance of Constant Lambert's ''The Rio Grande''. It became her calling card, with Lambert saying that he preferred her interpretation to that of

Hamilton Harty Sir Herbert Hamilton Harty (4 December 1879 – 19 February 1941) was an Irish composer, conductor, pianist and organist. After an early career as a church organist in his native Ireland, Harty moved to London at about age 20, soon becoming a w ...

who premiered the piece in 1929. (She played it at the Proms for the final time on 15 August 1951 with the composer conducting, just days before his death). She followed this on 7 September 1945 with the first performance in England of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto,

Basil Cameron Basil Cameron, CBE (18 August 1884 – 26 June 1975) was an English conductor. Early career He was born Basil George Cameron HindenbergW.L. Jacob, "Hindenburg v. Cameron" (Letter to the Editor) (1991). ''The Musical Times'', 132 (1782), p. ...

conducting. Despite some underlying hostility the work was received by the audience with unexpected enthusiasm, and (according to ''The Musical Times'') she played with "immense courage". She also performed Schoenberg's ''Phantasy'', Op. 47. Other Proms appearances included

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

's ''Sinfonia Concertante'' (14 January 1947),

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...

's ''Legend'' for piano and orchestra (10 September 1948), Alan Rawsthorne's Piano Concerto No 1 (7 September 1949), and the first UK hearing of

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...

's Piano Concerto No. 2 (26 August 1955), by then 40 years old.Rubinstein, W.D., Jolles, Michael A. (eds). ''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'' (2011) In 1952 Greenbaum was one of three pianists (the others being the identical twin piano duo

Mary and Geraldine Peppin Mary and Geraldine Peppin (born 30 December 1912) were identical twin sisters, and performers in a classical piano duo active in the UK from the 1930s until the 1960s. Later in life they both became influential piano teachers at the Guildhall Scho ...

) performing

Peter Racine Fricker Peter Racine Fricker (5 September 19201 February 1990) was an English composer, among the first to establish his career entirely after the Second World War. He lived in the US for the last thirty years of his life. Fricker wrote over 160 works in ...

's ''Concertante'' for three pianos, strings and percussion. Her best known recordings include ''The Rio Grande'' (made in 1949) and

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor (made in 1957). These were both reissued in 2017 on the CRQ label. Greenbaum turned to composition in later life. She wrote a score for the play with dance ''Theresa'' by

Julia Pascal Julia Pascal is a British playwright and theatre director. Biography A Jewish atheist, Pascal's stage plays include three grouped together as ''The Holocaust Trilogy''. The first of these is ''Theresa'', based on historical accounts of a Jewish w ...

, one of a trilogy of plays under the general title ''The Holocaust Trilogy'', staged at the

New End Theatre The New End Theatre, Hampstead, was an 80-seat fringe theatre venue in London, at 27 New End in the London Borough of Camden which operated from 1974 until 2011. It was founded in 1974 by Buddy Dalton in the converted mortuary of the now-de ...

in Hampstead on 5 November 1995. ''Bells'' was composed in 1998. ''Song of Songs'', a setting of the Old Testament, is scored for solo soprano with clarinet, horn, string trio, double bass and percussion. It received its first performance in 2006 as part of Jewish Culture Day at the Southbank Centre in London.

Personal life

In 1956, Greenbaum married psychiatrist Andrew Crowcroft, They had two children ( Jonathan and Natasha). Andrew's posting to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

gave Kyla new opportunities in Canada including performing and recording Noospheres by composer Charles Camilleri and teaching Aesthetics at York University. In 1978 they returned to the UK, living in Camden for twenty years, throwing parties for exiles, writers and musicians. Kyla did occasionally still perform during this time, sometimes under her married name, both in Canada and in the UK. For instance, on the 12 May 1979 she premiered (and subsequently recorded) the piano work ''Noospheres'' (1977) by the Canadian composer

Charles Camilleri Charles Camilleri (7 September 1931 – 3 January 2009) was a Maltese composer. Early life Camilleri was born in Ħamrun and, as a teenager, composed many works based on folk music and legends of his native Malta. Career Camilleri moved fro ...

Canada House Canada House (french: Maison du Canada) is a Greek Revival building on Trafalgar Square in London. It has been a Grade II* Listed Building since 1970. It has served as the offices of the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom since 192 ...

. She was co-authoring a book on the lullaby with her husband at the time of his death in 2002. It remained unpublished. Kyla died in Hampstead, London on 15 June 2017.

References

External links

Kyla Greenbaum plays ''The Rio Grande'', recorded 14 January, 1949
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenbaum, Kyla 1922 births 2017 deaths British people of Russian-Jewish descent British classical pianists British women pianists British composers British Jews Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music People from Brighton