Geoffrey Parsons

Geoffrey Penwill Parsons (15 June 1929 – 26 January 1995) was an Australian classical pianist, most particularly notable as an accompanist to singers and instrumentalists. He was based in London from the age of 20, and toured internationally before returning back to Australia

After the retirement of Gerald Moore, Parsons was generally considered the world's finest and most sympathetic accompanist of lieder singers, "elevating the role of the accompanist to new heights in the 1950s with his musicality, authority and quiet strength of playing".

Biography Geoffrey Parsons was born in Summer Hill, New South Wales, a suburb Sydney, Australia, to a working-class family, his parents Francis Hedley Parsons and Edith Vera Buckland and had two older brothers

A performance of Schubert's Winterreise with Gerhard Hüsch in his first London concert since World War II led to Parsons being invited to Munich to be Hüsch's permanent accompanist, where they worked together almost daily. There he studied with Friedrich Wührer Nicolai Gedda,

In 1973 he accompanied Birgit Nilsson in the first lieder recital at the Sydney Opera House. During his returns to Australia, he conducted several masterclasses at his alma mater, now the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

On 29 November 1981, he again appeared with Eileen Joyce, in a fund-raising concert at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Although not intended as such, this proved to be the last time Eileen Joyce ever played in public. and an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia in 1990.

Parsons was the inaugural patron of the Accompanists Guild of Queensland, Inc.

He shared his life and his home with the singer and teacher Erich Vietheer, who died in London on 15 May 1989, aged 59. Parsons lived his life as a Christian, committed to the Church of England.

On his retirement he was given his own gala concert at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

He died in London from cancer on Australia Day, 26 January 1995, survived by his two brothers.

His 1972 portrait, by Michael Shannon, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Old Parliament House, Canberra.

Geoffrey Parsons Award In 1995, following Parsons' death, the Geoffrey Parsons Award was named in his memory by the Accompanists' Guild of South Australia, of which Parsons was the founding international patron. The award is one of the few Australian prizes to celebrate and encourage the profession of piano accompaniment. The Geoffrey Parsons Award is an annual prize, originally with a cash-pool of $2,500. To mark the 25th anniversary of the Guild, in 2008 this was increased to $6,000.

In recent years, the prize has received the support of the Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, which has given the prize an added level of prestige and public profile. In presenting the Geoffrey Parsons Award the Accompanists' Guild continues to raise the public's awareness of the importance of the skills of the professional accompanist and has assisted many emerging accompanists to establish their professional careers. The list of previous winners is published on the Guild's website.

Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Trust The Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Trust aimed to encourage the art of the accompanist amongst young pianists.

On Australia Day 2005, the tenth anniversary of Geoffrey Parsons' death, the Trust presented the Geoffrey Parsons 10th Anniversary Memorial Concert at London's Wigmore Hall. Yvonne Kenny, Sir Thomas Allen, and Graham Johnson all provided their services free of charge. The concert was reviewed in The Guardian newspaper.

The Trust operated as a charity between 1995 and 2013.