Person Open DS/UK/2939 Rubens; Harold (1918-2010); British pianist, political campaigner Rubens Harold 1918-2010 British pianist, political campaigner Male

Born in 1918 in Cardiff, Wales, Harold was one of four siblings, all of whom were musical. By the age of 10, Harold was winning Piano prizes and performing with, for example, the Scottish Symphony Orchestra. At the age of seven having, according to his sister Bernice Rubens, “exhausted all the local teachers”, Harold began traveling to London to study with Madame Maria Levinskaya. Bernice, a booker prize winner, would use his study with Madame Levinskaya as the subject of her book, Madame Sousatzka, which subsequently became a film with Shirley MacLaine in the title role. After a stay in the US, Harold moved to South Africa in the 1950s and become involved in the Anti-Apartheid Movement. While teaching at the College of Music in Cape Town, he refused to play to segregated audiences; during the ANC Treason Trial he played high profile concerts to raise money for ANC defendants; and his home in Newlands became a meeting place for other Movement members, including Nelson Mandela and Albie Sachs Harold returned from South Africa to the UK in 1963, taking up a position teaching at the Royal Academy of Music. He died in 2010, at his home in London, England. International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Yes RAHSkeyte 11/5/2012 Rachael.Fragola 3/1/2022 3788ab34-a84e-4e48-aafd-4dab0654ab46