  right|thumb|myra hess dame julia myra hess, dbe (25 february 1890 â 25 november 1965) was a british pianist. ==career== she was born in london as julia myra hess, and at the age of five began to study the piano. two years later, she entered the guildhall school of music, where she graduated as winner of the gold medal. she studied at the royal academy of music under tobias matthay. her debut came in 1907 when she played beethoven's piano concerto no. 4 with sir thomas beecham conducting. she went on to tour through britain, the netherlands and france. upon her american debut (new york city, 24 january 1922) she became a prime favourite in the united states, not only as a soloist, but also as a fine ensemble player. she also has a link to jazz, having given lessons in the 1920s to ivy brubeck, mother of dave brubeck. hess garnered greater fame during world war ii when, with all concert halls blacked out at night to avoid being targets of german bombers, she organised what would turn out to be some 1700 lunchtime concerts spanning a period of six years, starting during the london blitz. the concerts were held at the national gallery, in trafalgar square; hess herself played in 150 of them. for this contribution to maintaining the morale of the populace of london, king george vi awarded her with the dame commander of the british empire (dbe) in 1941; having previously been created a cbe in 1936. hess makes a brief appearance performing at one of her lunchtime concerts in the 1942 wartime documentary listen to britain (directed by humphrey jennings and stuart mcallister).listen to britain (1942) â imdb in 1946, arturo toscanini invited hess to perform with the nbc symphony orchestra in new york city. according to toscanini's biographer, mortimer frank, after hess and the conductor had failed to agree on tempos for beethoven's fifth piano concerto, they decided instead to perform beethoven's third. 24 november 1946 broadcast concert was preserved on transcription discs and later issued on cd by naxos records.mortimer h. frank, arturo toscanini: the nbc years, amadeus press, 2002, p. 87. hess was most renowned for her interpretations of the works of mozart, beethoven and schumann, bu
1890_births 1965_deaths Actresses_from_London Alumni_of_the_Guildhall_School_of_Music_and_Drama Alumni_of_the_Royal_Academy_of_Music British_classical_pianists British_music_educators Classical_piano_duos Dames_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire English_Jews English_pianists Jewish_classical_pianists Musicians_awarded_knighthoods People_associated_with_the_National_Gallery,_London Piano_pedagogues Royal_Philharmonic_Society_Gold_Medallists