Margaret Ruth Fingerhut (born 30 March 1955) is a British

classical pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

. She is known for her innovative recital programmes and recordings in which she explores lesser known piano repertoire. The composer and reviewer Paul Corfield Godfrey wrote that "Margaret Fingerhut deserves our heartfelt admiration for her championship of the byways of the British twentieth-century piano repertory".

Education and personal life

Fingerhut attended

North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is a private day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju Island, Dubai, Vietnam ...

. She studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

with

Cyril Smith Sir Cyril Richard Smith (28 June 1928 – 3 September 2010) was a British Liberal Party and Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochdale from 1972 to 1992. Smith was first active in local politics as ...

and Angus Morrison, and afterwards with

Vlado Perlemuter Vladislas "Vlado" Perlemuter (26 May 1904 – 4 September 2002) was a Lithuanian-born French pianist and teacher. Biography Vladislas (Vlado) Perlemuter was born to a Polish Jewish family, the third of four sons, in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas in L ...

in Paris and Leon Fleisher and

Adele Marcus Adele Marcus (February 22, 1906 May 3, 1995) was an American pianist and instructor whose career was based at the Juilliard School in New York City. Life and career Marcus was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the youngest of 13 children of a rabbi ...

in the USA. She cites meeting and playing with Leonard Sorkin, the leader of the original Fine Arts Quartet, as an inspiration. Fingerhut is married to David Tyler. She has a son from a previous marriage.

Career and recordings

Fingerhut was selected as a Young Musician of the Year by the

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

Arts Association in 1981. She made her

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

debut at the

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

in the same year, and first played in the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

in 1983, playing the Grieg Piano Concerto. Fingerhut has performed concertos with world-renowned orchestras including the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

BBC Philharmonic The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Media ...

BBC National Orchestra of Wales The BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW) () is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional radio orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisation in Wales, occupying a dual role as both ...

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional rad ...

and the

London Mozart Players London Mozart Players (LMP) are a British chamber orchestra founded in 1949. LMP are the longest-established chamber orchestra in the United Kingdom. Since 1989, the orchestra has been Resident Orchestra at Fairfield Halls, Croydon. History Begin ...

, in venues such as the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

and the

Barbican A barbican (from ) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe Medieval Europeans typically b ...

. She has collaborated with conductors such as

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

Paul Daniel Paul Daniel (born 5 July 1958) is an English conductor. Biography Early life Daniel was born in Birmingham. As a boy, he sang in the choir of Coventry Cathedral, where he received musical training; then studied music at King's College, Cambri ...

Rudolf Barshai Rudolf Borisovich Barshai (, September 28, 1924November 2, 2010) was a Soviet and Russian conductor and violist. Life Barshai was born on September 28, 1924, in Labinsk, Krasnodar Krai, Russian SFSR. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory unde ...

, Sir Charles Groves, Sir Edward Downes,

Vernon Handley Vernon George "Tod" Handley (11 November 1930 – 10 September 2008) was a British conductor (music), conductor, known in particular for his support of British composers. Early life and education He was born of a Welsh father and an Irish mothe ...

and

Bryden Thomson Bryden Thomson (16 July 1928 – 14 November 1991) was a Scottish conductor remembered especially for his championship of British and Scandinavian composers. His recordings include influential surveys of the orchestral music of Hamilton Harty a ...

. She appeared as

Maria Yudina Maria Veniaminovna Yudina ( ; 189919 November 1970) was a Soviet pianist. Early life and education Maria Yudina was born to a Jewish family in Nevel, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire. She was the fourth child of Veniamin Yudin, a renowne ...

Testimony Testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. Law In the law, testimon ...

, Tony Palmer's film about

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded ...

. Her discs on the Chandos label include works by Bainton, Bax,

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881–1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter *Alexandre Bloch (1857–1919), French painter *Alfred Bloch ( ...

, Dukas, Falla,

Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of N ...

, Howells,

Leighton Leighton may refer to: Places In Australia: * Leighton, Western Australia, a beachside locality In the United Kingdom: * Leighton, Cambridgeshire * Leighton, Cheshire * Leighton, North Yorkshire ** Leighton Reservoir * Leighton, Shropshire *Lei ...

, Moeran, Novák,

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, Suk and Tansman, as well as several pioneering collections of 19th century Russian and early 20th century French piano music. She was also the soloist in the world première recording of Percy Young's arrangement of

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

's sketches for his Piano Concerto slow movement, with the Munich Symphony Orchestra conducted by Douglas Bostock. Other première recordings include Edgar Bainton Concerto Fantasia, Bax Octet and solo piano works by Howells,

Lennox Berkeley Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley CBE (12 May 190326 December 1989) was an English composer. Biography Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford, England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James ...

and

Michael Berkeley Michael Fitzhardinge Berkeley, Baron Berkeley of Knighton, (born 29 May 1948) is an English composer, broadcaster on music and non-party political member of the House of Lords, speaking as an advocate for the arts, contemporary music and music ...

. Fingerhut also made the first recording in 1992 of ''Canon in E minor'', a student piano piece by

Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of ...

. Two of her Bax recordings – the Octet with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble and the Concertante for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra with

and the BBC Philharmonic – were short-listed for

Gramophone awards The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the Classical music, classical record industry. The British awards are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the ...

. Her disc of solo piano music by Alexandre Tansman was awarded a "Diapason D’Or" in ''Diapason magazine''. Her CD of encores, "Endless Song", was Featured Album of the Week on Classic FM and was selected as "Editor's Choice" in ''Pianist as well as being awarded an "Outstanding" accolade in '' International Record Review''. Fingerhut is interested in working with contemporary composers and has given first performances of works by Tony Bridgewater, James Francis Brown, Peter Copley, Clive Jenkins, Farhad Poupel,

Roxanna Panufnik Roxanna Panufnik (born 24 April 1968) is a British composer of Polish descent. She is the daughter of the Polish composer and conductor Sir Andrzej Panufnik and his second wife Camilla, née Jessel. Panufnik was born in London. She attended Be ...

and

Paul Spicer Paul Spicer (born August 18, 1975) is an American football coach and former defensive end who was most recently the defensive line coach for the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL. He played college football at Saginaw Valley State. He then play ...

in venues such as the

Purcell Room The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats. The Purcell Ro ...

and at the

Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester, and Worcester) and originally fe ...

and Ryedale Festival.

Teaching

Fingerhut is a Visiting Lecturer at the

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly research and docto ...

where she was made an Honorary Fellow in 2015. She formerly taught piano at the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

and at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. She is a regular guest at summer schools such as

Dartington International Summer School Dartington International Summer School was a British summer school and festival of music held on the medieval estate of Dartington Hall, Devon, England, and the first summer school of music in the United Kingdom. It was a department of the Dart ...

, Chetham's International Summer School for Pianists and Jackdaws. Her teaching at Dartington was described by ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'' magazine as demonstrating "enormous skill and sympathy". She has given masterclasses in the US, Canada, Japan and China, and has been on the jury of competitions such as the

BBC Young Musician of the Year BBC Young Musician is a televised national music competition broadcast biennially on BBC Television and BBC Radio 3. Originally BBC Young Musician of the Year, its name was changed in 2010. The competition, a former member of the European Uni ...

. She has written for the magazines ''

Classical Music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

'', ''International Piano'' and ''Pianist''.

Charitable work

In 2019 Fingerhut devised and performed a recital tour around the UK which raised £88,000 for refugees in the UK – this represents £1,000 for each of the keys of a grand piano. Her programme drew together the music and stories of famous composers who migrated, giving her audiences a cultural perspective on the theme of migration and exile. Her achievement was recognised with a 'Champion of Sanctuary' award by the City of Sanctuary UK in 2019. In 2022 Margaret collaborated with Viktoriia Levchenko, a young Ukrainian filmmaker, to make a video in support of Ukraine. Set to her performance of Les Rochers d’Outche-Coche by the Ukrainian composer

Sergei Bortkiewicz Sergei Eduardovich Bortkiewicz ( – 25 October 1952) was a Romantic composer and pianist. He moved to Vienna in 1922 and became a naturalized Austrian citizen in 1926. Life Early life and origins Sergei Eduardovich Bortkiewicz was born i ...

, the video raised money for emergency vehicles in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Fingerhut is also a patron of British Friends of the Oasis of Peace. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2024 New Year Honours The 2024 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

for services to music and charitable fundraising.

Discography

* Arnold Works for violin & piano SOMMCD 0640 (with Peter Fisher, violin) * Bainton Concerto fantasia CHAN 10460 (BBC Philharmonic, Paul Daniel) * Bax Concertante for piano left hand, and orchestra CHAN 9715 (BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley) * Bax Octet for piano, horn & string sextet CHAN 9602 (Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble) * Bax Symphonic Variations CHAN 8516 (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bryden Thompson) * Bax Winter Legends CHAN 8484 (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bryden Thompson) * Bloch Piano Works CHAN 9887 * Dukas Complete Piano Works CHAN 8765 * Falla Nights in the Gardens of Spain CHAN 8457 (London Symphony Orchestra, Geoffrey Simon) * Finzi Eclogue SOMMCD 0653 (Chamber Ensemble of London, Peter Fisher) * Grieg Piano Concerto CHAN 7040 (Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley) * Howells Piano Works CHAN 9273 * Jenkins Concertino for piano & strings SOMMCD 0653 (Chamber Ensemble of London, Peter Fisher) * Leighton Piano Works CHAN 9818 * Leighton Piano Works, Volume 2 CHAN 10601 * Moeran Third Rhapsody for piano & orchestra CHAN 7106 (Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley) * Novak Songs of a Winter's Night / Pan CHAN 9489 * Stanford Piano Concerto no.2 / Concert Variations CHAN 7099 (Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley) * Suk Piano Works CHAN 9026/7 * Tansman Piano Works CHAN 10527 * Collections: * "Endless Song" – Encores for Piano CHAN 10826 * Piano Music of the Russian Mighty Handful CHAN 8439 * Piano Music of Tchaikovsky and his friends CHAN 9218 * Hommages to Haydn, Fauré and Roussel CHAN 8578

References

External links

Fingerhut's web siteChandos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fingerhut, Margaret 1955 births Living people British classical pianists People educated at North London Collegiate School British women classical pianists 20th-century British classical pianists 20th-century British musicians 21st-century British classical pianists 21st-century British musicians Alumni of the Royal College of Music 20th-century British women pianists 21st-century British women pianists Academics of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Members of the Order of the British Empire