Elizabeth Poston

Elizabeth Poston (24 October 1905 – 18 March 1987) was an English composer, pianist, organist, and writer. Early life and career Poston was born in Highfield House in Pin Green, which is now the site of Hampson Park in Stevenage. In 1914 she moved with her mother, Clementine Poston, to nearby Rooks Nest House where E. M. Forster had lived as a child. Poston and Forster subsequently became good friends. After attending Queen Margaret’s School, York and studying piano with Harold Samuel and organ with Sir Stanley Marchant, She won a prize from the RAM for her one movement Violin Sonata, which was subsequently broadcast by the BBC on 9 July 1928, with Antonio Brosa as soloist and Victor Hely-Hutchinson piano. When she graduated from the RAM in 1925 seven of her songs were published, and in 1928 she published five more. Poston went abroad between 1930 and 1939, where she studied architecture and collected folksongs in Central Europe. She was also a respected performer, premiering Walter Leigh’s Concertino for harpsichord and strings in 1934. Poston’s discussion with Julius Harrison, composer of Bredon Hill which is “witness to the eternal spirit of England”, was aired by the BBC in 194