‘For many years, she gave all the important violin premieres’

Maria Lidka, a Hitler refugee who has died at the age of 99, was a formidable figure in British musical life, performing concertos with all the main orchestras and devoting herself to the works of young composers. When her pianist friend Margaret Kitchen died, the Telegraph wrote: ‘For many years it seemed as if Maria Lidka gave all the important violin premières, and Margaret Kitchin all the piano ones.’

A pupil of Max Rostal in Berlin, Maria followed her teacher to London in 1934. Interned in 1940 as an enemy alien, she formed a Czech Trio with Walter Süsskind (piano) and Karel Horitz (cello). She played often with Walter Goehr, Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett, playing the solo role in the world premiere of his Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli.

Obituary here (auf Deutsch).