Lance Dossor
| Lance Dossor | |
|---|---|
Lance Dossor (far right), February 1937
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Harry Lancelot Dossor |
| Born |
14 May 1916 Weston-super-Mare, England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 3 December 2005 (aged 89) Adelaide, Australia |
| Genres | Classical music |
| Occupation(s) | Virtuoso pianist, pedagogue |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1936–1999 |
Harry Lancelot "Lance" Dossor (14 May 1916 – 3 December 2005) was a British-born classical music concert pianist and teacher who emigrated to Australia in May 1953.
Harry Lancelot Dossor was born on 14 May 1916 in Weston-super-Mare, United Kingdom, the third child of a jeweller who was also a distinguished amateur tenor. Dossor was educated at Seaford College and matriculated at the University of London. In 1932 he obtained an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he studied piano with Herbert Fryer and composition with Herbert Howells.
In 1936 Dossor was awarded the Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, given only every three years to the most outstanding student. He won the 1936 Franz Liszt Prize at the Vienna International Piano Competition, and in the following year the Sonata Prize and overall Fourth Prize in the 1937 International Chopin Piano Competition. In 1938 he was awarded fourth prize in the Ysaye Competition in Belgium - the first three places going to Emil Gilels, Moura Lympany and Yakov Flier.
He later recounted the tale that, while he was still a student, he obtained entry to a rehearsal of one of Sergei Rachmaninoff's concerts in London. He was introduced to Rachmaninoff afterwards by the British pianist Cyril Smith as "... a very promising young pianist who has recently been successful in the Chopin prize." Rachmaninoff responded in his heavy Russian accent "Ah, but who were the judges?"
During the Second World War, from 1939, Dossor served in the Royal Artillery in the Middle East, Italy and Germany, where, because of health problems, he was transferred to Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) to help provide concerts of classical music for the services. In November 1940 he married Diana Levinson, a harpist, who had been a fellow student at the Royal College of Music.
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