| Biography | MAY HARRISON was the oldest of the Harrison sisters, and was born in India in 1890. At the age of ten she won the Gold Medal of the Associated Board's Senior Department, among 3,000 competitors of all ages and both sexes. This was a record at the time. At eleven she gained a scholarship to The Royal College of Music, where she studied with the Spanish master, Enrique Arbos. She left The College in 1908 and went to study with the great teacher, Leopold Auer, in St Petersburg. Her debut had been in 1903, when she played at the St James's Hall under Henry Wood, and her European debut was in Berlin in 1909. Later that year she was selected to play at the Mendelssohn Festival in Helsingfors, replacing Fritz Kreisler who was unable to attend.
From the start of her career May was particularly noted for her playing of Bach, and Dr Eric Fenby has said how much he enjoyed her playing of unaccompanied Bach during her later visits to Delius at Grez-sur-Loing. In the years preceding the First World War, she and Beatrice became well know for their performances of the Brahms Double-Concerto which Glazunov had introduced to them. He conducted one performance of this work in St Petersburg, and altogether they played it at some fifty-nine concerts throughout Europe at that time. In 1914 Delius attended a performance of the work under Beecham in Manchester and told the sisters afterwards that he would like to write a Double Concerto himself. This he did the following year, and visited the Harrisons at their home in London with the new score to hear them play it through. He subsequently made several changes based on their advice, and later dedicated the work to them. They gave the first performance in 1920. Ten years later at Grez Delius sent for May to play through his new 3rd Violin Sonata, which he had just completed with the assistance of Eric Fenby. He was so please with her interpretation of the work that he dedicated it to her on the spot. In the years just before the Second World War, May gave Jack Moeran much advice over his new Violin Concerto, and he intended that she should give the first performance of the work. Unhappily this did not happen because, according to a letter she received from Moeran, there was a misunderstanding between him, his publisher and the conductor.
As well as the pieces mentioned, May was well known for her playing of works by Handel, Brahms, Elgar, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Glazunov, and Bax. She took only two weeks to learn the Elgar Violin Concerto, which is among the most difficult technically in the repertoire. Before the Second War she frequently broadcast on Radio, and appeared at Promenade Concerts. She taught at The Royal College of Music from 1935 to 1947, and continued to perform until shortly before her death in 1959.
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