Dame Moura Lympany

Born in Cornwall in August 1916, Moura Lympany made her début at the age of twelve playing Mendelssohn's G minor Concerto in Harrogate, England. At thirteen, she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in Russia. Dame Moura gave the first performance outside Russia of the Khachaturian Piano Concerto and she later performed the Concerto under the composer himself at the Royal Albert Hall in London. She was the first Western pianist to visit the Soviet Union after the War.