| Biography | Noel Mewton-Wood (20 November 1922 5 December 1953) was an Australian-born concert pianist.
Born in Melbourne, he studied with Waldemar Seidel at the Melbourne Conservatorium until the age of fourteen. After further studies at London's Royal Academy of Music, Mewton-Wood spent time with Artur Schnabel in Italy.
In March 1940, he returned to London for his debut performance at Queen's Hall, performing Beethoven's third piano concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham. He later performed in France, Germany, South Africa, Poland, Turkey and Australia.
Mewton-Wood was a close friend of Benjamin Britten. In 1952-53, while Britten was occupied in the writing of his opera Gloriana, Mewton-Wood deputised as the accompanist for Britten's partner Peter Pears.
At the age of thirty-one, Mewton-Wood committed suicide by drinking prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide), apparently blaming himself for the death of a friend. The notes written by a friend of Mewton-Wood, John Amis, for the reissue of the Bliss Concerto recording, indicate that Mewton-Wood was gay and was depressed by the recent death of his lover.
Benjamin Britten wrote' Canticle III: Still falls the rain' for Mewton-Wood's memorial concert. |