| Biography | Norma Fisher was born in London of Russian-Polish parents. She was soon recognised as "a rare musical talent" winning an exhibition at the age of eleven, to study with Sidney Harrison at the Guildhall School of Music. At the age of fourteen she came to the attention of the celebrated Greek pianist Gina Bachauer, who became her mentor, introducing her to the distinguished Hungarian teacher Ilona Kabos, with whom she subsequently studied. A period was also spent in Paris studying French music with Jacques Février.
Her many highly acclaimed early performances for the BBC led to an invitation by the German radio station RIAS in Berlin, to make her debut with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra - which launched her career in Europe. Success in the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition as a top prize-winner followed, and in 1963, when she shared the much-coveted Piano Prize in the Harriet Cohen International Music Award with Vladimir Ashkenazy, her international reputation was sealed. That same year she made her debut at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall and became a favourite soloist with leading British orchestras including the Philharmonia, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Hallé, Bournemouth Symphony, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Her reputation as a teacher is widely established and many of her prize-winning students are well known on the international concert circuit. She is Professor of PIano at the Royal College of Music in London - was also made a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music, FRNCM in 2012 - and is invited to give masterclasses throughout the world. |