John Vallier

John Vallier (1 October 1920 – 11 June 1991) was an English classical pianist and composer who was known for his thunderous technique and beautiful singing tone, and was especially admired for his interpretations and performances of Chopin and Schumann. He could trace his musical ancestry in an eminently distinguished line back to the Romantic Era of the 19th century. He was born in 1920 and was only four years old when he appeared in public for the first time, at London’s Wigmore Hall. His last solo recital at London’s Royal Festival Hall was attended by HM The Queen Mother. Musical education Vallier’s mother was the pianist Adela Verne, the finest woman pianist of her time and herself a contemporary and even rival of Paderewski, whose teacher Leschetizky was a pupil of Czerny who taught Liszt. Vallier’s aunt and principal teacher was Mathilde Verne, through whose famous piano school in London passed the young Vallier as well as the pianists Solomon and Moura Lympany, and even socialite Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Mathilde Verne was herself the finest pupil of Clara Schumann, from whom she inherited a direct insight into her husband Robert S