World-renowned Leeds pianist and music teacher Dame Fanny Waterman dies aged 100

The world-renowned musician - nicknamed 'Yorkshire's answer to Gertrude Stein' - had lived independently in Woodgarth, her Victorian home in the Leeds suburb of Oakwood which was home to her two Steinway pianos, until earlier this year, when she moved to a care home in Ilkley.

It was at the home where she died peacefully on Sunday morning. Dame Fanny leaves her sons, Robert and Paul, and six grandchildren.

She was born in Leeds in 1920, the daughter of a Ukrainian Jewish diamond mounter and his wife, a British-born Russian Jew. In 1941, she won a coveted scholarship to the Royal College of Music after leaving Chapel Allerton High School, where she returned to teach piano. She met her husband, Dr Geoffrey de Keyser, at one of her recitals in Leeds Town Hall, and they married in 1944.

In 1961, she founded the Leeds International Piano Festival, a showcase for young talent from across the world, with her friends Marion Thorpe, Countess of Harewood, and Roslyn Lyons. Dame Fanny served as chair and artistic director until the age of 95.

She was well-connected and had prominent frirends including Sir Benjamin Britten - who played at Woodgarth - Ted Heath, Don Revie and Alan Bennett, who all regularly attended her soirees at the house. Prince Charles called to wish her a happy birthday once, and she met the Queen on several occasions and had lunch at Windsor Castle. She would also visit Harewood House to dine with Marion and her mother-in-law Princess Mary, the Dowager Countess and aunt to the Queen.

Her successor as artistic director of the Leeds International Piano Festival Adam Gatehouse said: "Dame Fanny was a force of nature, a one-off, a unique figure in our cultural firmament who infused everyone with whom she came into contact with a passion and enthusiasm and sheer love of music, particularly piano music, that was totally impossible to resist.

"From nothing she created the world’s most prestigious piano competition and chose to do so not in London but in Leeds, at the time a dark, industrial but incredibly lively and vibrant town in the north of England. From small beginnings it swiftly grew as word spread that here was a competition where music and the musicians came first. The lives she has touched, both through the Competition, but also through her teaching and piano books, are too numerous to mention. She was quite simply irreplaceable, and to have had the chance to work with her and eventually succeed her has been one of the greatest privileges and joys of my life."

In the 1950s, she taught four children from Leeds, including her brother Harry's daughter Wendy Waterman, to such a high standard that they were all invited to perform piano concertos at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

She was made OBE in 1971, CBE in 1999 and was given a damehood in 2005. She also held the Freedom of the City of Leeds, was a president of Harrogate International Festivals and an honorary member of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

A planned celebration of Dame Fanny's 100th birthday in March had to be cancelled due to lockdown, but she was still actively attending concerts at the beginning of 2020.