Fiona Maddocks (19 January)
London-born Fiona Maddocks studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge before going on to the Royal College of Music. Violin lessons were with Blanche Mundlak who ran the St Cecilia Music Shop and conducted the Orion Orchestra for almost 40 years.
In 1997 Fiona succeeded Andrew Porter as Chief Music Critic of The Observer. She left that newspaper between 2002 and 2010 for a spell as Chief Arts Feature Writer for the Evening Standard. Returning to the Observer, she has since remained there.
Her assessment of a critic’s occupation is typical of this most human and diligent of writers: …’the music, the variety, the challenge, the privilege, the responsibility to those performing, the mental demands – it’s a constant, amazing education and in its own way a sort of performance requiring adrenalin and concentration. You have to give your best, just as those onstage do’.
She has played a central role in founding three media companies: Channel 4 television, The Independent and the BBC Music Magazine. Her books include a study of the 12th-Century composer Hildegaard of Bingen, a collection of interviews with the composer Harrison Birtwistle and Twentieth Century Classical Music: a Ladybird Expert Book. Her latest book is Goodbye Russia - Rachmaninoff in Exile, a readable, affectionate and scholarly account of the composer-pianist’s life and career after leaving Russia to live in America. It has recently appeared in paperback and will be on sale this evening.
She lives in London and Oxford, has two daughters and enjoys playing the violin in chamber music with friends. This evening, she talks to Putney Music’s joint programme secretary Andrew Keener.
