Renna Kellaway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Renna Kellaway, Lady Manduell, MBE (18 October 1931 – 26 April 2024) was a South Africa-born British pianist and music teacher.
Born in Durban, South Africa, Kellaway made her concert debut in Durban City Hall at the age of 13.[1] At seventeen she travelled to Amsterdam to study with Johannes Röntgen (1898–1969),[2] and later with Franz Osborn (1905–1955, a student of Artur Schnabel) in London. She also played for Clara Haskil.[3] Kellaway toured as a concert pianist and chamber musician in Europe, Asia, the US and South Africa, giving master classes and serving as a juror in piano competitions. She participated in and directed the summer music school at Dartington for several years.[4]
Kellaway began teaching at the Birmingham School of Music in the 1970s, and at the Royal Northern College of Music from 1980, becoming Head of Keyboard Studies in 1992[5] and founding the biennial Glories of the Keyboard Festival at the college in 1995.[6] She left the RNCM in 2000, succeeded by Martin Roscoe.[7] Her pupils there included Caroline Dowdle, Eleanor Hodgkinson, Heejung Kim, Steven Osborne,[8] Carole Presland and Edward Rushton.
Kellaway founded the annual Lake District Summer Music festival in 1985 and ran it for 35 years as artistic director.[4] Musicians who participated in the festival early in their careers included Nicola Benedetti, the Heath String Quartet, Guy Johnston, Steven Osborne, Jennifer Pike and Nikolaj Znaider.[9] She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to music in the 2009 New Year Honours.[10] She retired from the post in 2020 and was succeeded by Stephen Threlfall.[11] The Birmingham Conservatoire has established a Renna Kellaway Piano Prize.
