Ethel Leginska

Ethel Leginska née Liggins (13 April 1886 – 26 February 1970) was a British pianist, composer, conductor and music educator.

She was a student of Theodor Leschetizky, later studying composition with Rubin Goldmark and Ernest Bloch, and conducting with Eugene Goossens, Robert Heger and Gennaro Papi. Among her students were harpsichordist Gavin Williamson, James Henry Fields, Daniel Pollack and Bruce Sutherland. She was a pioneer of women's opportunity in music performance and conducting, being the first woman to conduct many of the world's leading orchestras.

Ethel Liggins was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England, to Thomas and Annie Peck Liggins. With support from wealthy patron Mary Emma Wilson, the wife of the shipping magnate Arthur Wilson, she attended the Hoch conservatory in Frankfurt, where she studied piano under James Kwast, and composition under Bernhard Sekles and Iwan Knorr. She also studied in Vienna with the famed Polish pianist and professor, Theodor Leschetizky. She went on tour in Australia in 1905, and performed in Europe under the stage name Ethel Leginska from 1906 on, at the suggestion of British socialite Lady Maud Warrender (the wife of Sir George Warrender), as at that time the best top-class musicians were Polish, hence the Polish-sounding name "Leginska" considered advantageous to the development of the young pianist musical career. She kept that name throughout her career and upon her debut in the United States she was dubbed by the press "The Paderewski of women pianists".

...
Wikipedia