Nancy Mary Weir (13 July 1915 - 14 October 2008) was an Australian pianist and teacher.
Nancy was born in Kew, Melbourne on 13 July 1915. Her father was a publican who ran a small hotel in Lockhart, near Wagga Wagga, and Nancy grew up "behind the bar" as she said. She studied piano with Ada Corder (Freeman) in Melbourne. As a child prodigy at age 13, she performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, under Engl...
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Nancy Mary Weir (13 July 1915 - 14 October 2008) was an Australian pianist and teacher.
Nancy was born in Kew, Melbourne on 13 July 1915. Her father was a publican who ran a small hotel in Lockhart, near Wagga Wagga, and Nancy grew up "behind the bar" as she said. She studied piano with Ada Corder (Freeman) in Melbourne. As a child prodigy at age 13, she performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, under English-born conductor Fritz Hart. Following this concert, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne set up a public subscription scheme for the young Nancy to study with a great teacher in Europe. On arrival in Berlin, Germany, in 1930, she studied first with Edwin Fischer, but wangled her own way to studying with the legendary Artur Schnabel who she said was more fashionable. However, the "official" story is that Schnabel heard her and agreed to take her on as a student immediately. After the Nazis came to power, Schnabel left Germany in 1933, and so did Weir...
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