Lina Lalandi

Lina Madeleine Lalandi-Emery
Born
Lina Madeleine Yeleki Kaloyeropoulou

8 June 1920
Athens, Kingdom of Greece
Died2012 (aged 91–92)
NationalityGreek
EducationAthens Conservatoire
Occupation(s)Harpsichordist and festival organiser
Known forthe English Bach Festival
Spouse(s)Mr Waller-Bridge, Ralph Emery
PartnerRalph Emery

Lina Lalandi OBE or Lina Madeleine Lalandi-Emery (born Lina Madeleine Yeleki Kaloyeropoulou on 8 June 1920 – 2012) was a Greek harpsichordist and singer known for founding and directing the English Bach Festival.

Life

Lalandi-Emery was born in Athens on 13 July 1920, a date she tried to keep secret. Her father Nikolas Kaloyeropoulos was the director of the Byzantine Museum in Athens.[1] She was trained at the Athens Conservatoire.

She first came to notice when she was recognised for guiding allied troops through Athens during the Second World War.[2]

Her first marriage resulted in her having the surname Waller-Bridge. In 1962 she changed her name to Lina Madeleine Lalandi-Emery as she was in a relationship with a banker named Ralph Emery who was already married. Emery's wife refused to grant him a divorce, but Lina enjoyed the benefits of her new partner's wealth. It is estimated that he paid two million pounds, over the years, to subsidise the English Bach Festival,[2] which began in 1963 with Lalandi and Jack Westrup as its joint artistic directors. The festival was originally based in Oxford but in time it moved to London.[3] It had Bach as a theme; Lalandi wrote in 1963 that the festival would also include "20th-century composers whose way of thinking is nearer to [Bach's] than to that of the Romantic age."[4] In 1965 she is credited appearing in "The Coach Travellers", a BTF film promoting coach travel, playing a dual manual harpsichord at the Sheldonian Concert Hall.[citation needed]

In 1971 Jack Westrup was no longer a joint artistic director and Lalandi held the post on her own.[3]

In 1975 she was included in the 1975 New Year Honours. She was given an Order of the British Empire for her work with the English Bach Festival.[5]

In 1979 she received the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She also had two awards from the Greek government.[2]

References

  1. ^ Bertaut, John (2016). "Emery, Lina Madeleine Lalandi- [née Lina Madeleine Yeleki Kaloyeropoulou; known as Lina Lalandi] (1920–2012), harpsichordist and founder and director of the English Bach Festival". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/105307. Retrieved 2020-06-20. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b c McCarthy, Peter (2012-07-08). "Lina Lalandi obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  3. ^ a b Goodwin, Noël (2001). "English Bach Festival". Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.08818. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  4. ^ Rubinoff, Kailan (2013). "A revolution in sheep's wool stockings: Early music and '1968'" in Beate Kutschke and Barley Norton (eds.) Music and Protest in 1968, pp. 247–248. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 1107244501
  5. ^ United Kingdom list: "No. 46444". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1974. pp. 1–33.