26th June 2008

 
Marion Thorpe CBE. Photo courtesy of Yorkshire Post Newspapers

Marion Thorpe began playing the piano before she entered kindergarten and went on to found the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition with Dame Fanny Waterman. In the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours List she has been honoured for her services to music with a CBE.

Born Maria Stein, the young pianist arrived in the UK with her family in 1937 after Hitler came to power in Germany. The daughter of musician, Erwin Stein, she spent her early days with her family sharing a house with composer Benjamin Britten.

It was some years before she co-founded the Competition in 1963 and the 16th Leeds International Pianoforte Competition will take place 26 August to 13 September 2009 and is open to professional pianists of all nationalities. Many of its prize winners have gone on to make successful worldwide careers.

In 1949 Maria Stein married the Queen’s cousin, the Earl of Harewood, becoming the Countess of Harewood. The couple divorced in 1967 and in 1973 she married Jeremy Thorpe MP, the then leader of the Liberal Party.