Norman George Fraser (26 November 1904–1986) was a Chilean-born English pianist and composer.

Early life and education

Fraser was born in Valparaiso in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

of Scottish and Spanish parents.''Radio Times'', Issue 737, 14 November 1937, p. 92
/ref> He studied music in Chili and

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland before moving to England in 1917 to study at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

with Carlo Albanesi, taking additional piano lessons with

Isidor Philipp Isidor Edmond Philipp (first name sometimes spelled Isidore) (2 September 1863 – 20 February 1958) was a French pianist, composer, and pedagogue of Jewish Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris. Biography Isidor Philipp ...

in Paris. He then returned to England to study piano with

Tobias Matthay Tobias Augustus Matthay (19 February 185815 December 1945) was an English pianist, teacher, and composer. Biography Matthay was born in Clapham, Surrey, in 1858 to parents who had come from northern Germany and eventually became naturalised Brit ...

for three years, and established himself as a concert pianist and teacher.

Career and personal life

Fraser was employed by the BBC from 1935 to 1943, where he was a programmer for the Latin American Service. He toured South America as a representative of the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

, and from 1945 gave joint recitals with his wife, the Scottish mezzo-soprano Janet Fraser (née Janet Smith-Miller, 1911-????). From 1954 until his retirement in 1967 he re-joined the BBC as its European music supervisor. His address in the 1960s was Stangrove House, Edenbridge in Kent. In 1973 he settled at Seaford in East Sussex.

Composing and writing

Fraser's compositions include the four orchestral ''Chilean Dances'', the ''Rondo Campesino'' for soprano and orchestra, a string quartet (1923), and piano (including a piano sonata), songs and chamber works (such as the ''Cueca'' for two violins and piano). Fraser was also the editor of the ''International Catalogue of Recorded Folk Music'' (1954), and a contributor to the Fifth Edition of '' Grove's Dictionary of Music''.Oscar Thompson.
The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians
' (1975), p. 773

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Norman 1904 births 1986 deaths 20th-century British classical pianists 20th-century British composers 20th-century Chilean musicians Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Chilean classical pianists Immigrants to the United Kingdom