Vale Maureen Jones

Musica Viva Australia acknowledges with sorrow the passing of a great Australian pianist Maureen Jones, who has died in Switzerland at the age of 99.

Maureen was fundamental to Musica Viva Australia’s history,” said CEO Anne Frankenberg. “She was invited to join the original Musica Viva ensemble in her early twenties, before departing for a successful career in Europe. She returned several times to perform and to teach. Her incredible musicianship and natural glamour significantly built the audience for chamber music in this country.

— CEO Anne Frankenberg

A gifted musician, Maureen Jones was especially acclaimed for her chamber music performances, and was a key figure in the history of Musica Viva Australia from its earliest days. She was a friend and peer of other luminaries of that Australian generation, particularly Barry Tuckwell, Brenton Langbein, and Neville Amadio. Another friend was Barry’s sister Patricia (‘Bambi’ was a violinist and sometime model who became Countess of Harewood). Bambi and Maureen combined talent, beauty and style to a formidable extent, as captured in exquisite social photography from the 1940s onwards. 

Maureen spent her prodigious early years on Sydney’s upper north shore, commuting to school at the Conservatorium of Music at the invitation of then-director Edgar Bainton to study with Alexander Hmelnitsky. Aged only 10, Maureen made her professional solo debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, with a critically acclaimed account of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1. 

On graduating, she was invited by Richard Goldner to join the fledgling Musica Viva ensemble. Her unimpeachable musicianship and natural glamour played a role in establishing that company and creating an audience for fine chamber music in Australia. 

Maureen then followed the almost inevitable path for young Australian musicians at that time to London, before her dislike of that city led her to join violinist Brenton Langbein in Switzerland. Their close musical connection saw them form a duo in 1952, giving many concerts across Switzerland and Italy, including for the Societa dei Concerti Trieste. They were joined by Barry Tuckwell to form an acclaimed horn trio, for whom the Edinburgh Festival commissioned Australia’s Don Banks to compose his 1962 work. It became a repertoire cornerstone and was recorded by them, along with the Brahms Horn Trio.

Maureen’s marriage to an Italian (Dario de Rosa, pianist of Trio di Trieste, with whom she had a daughter Nicoletta) and subsequently another Italian (Amadeo Baldovino, cellist of the Trio) cemented her home in Europe. She was frequently called back to Australia to lend her skills as performer, teacher and adjudicator. 

Her European career was a storied one. As well as significant concerts for four-hand piano repertoire with de Rosa, and in chamber combinations with ensembles such as the Amadeus Quartet and Quintetto Fauré di Roma, she made concerto appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, and Berlin Philharmonic, and played for the Edinburgh Festival, BBC, RAI (Italy), and Academy of St Cecilia. Her adopted country, Italy, appointed her a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. 

Though she played for them on later occasions, one of her last major appearances for Musica Viva was in 1997, as part of the Schubertiade celebrations. Aged 69, beautiful, calmly striding on stage in a loose, vivid Pucci-print tunic slit well above the knee, her performance was a masterclass in presence, precision and musicianship. In an interview with Miriam Cosic in 2017 marking her 90th birthday, Maureen confided she was still performing and still practising daily. Her passing was noted in Italian and Swiss media with respect and admiration for ‘the lady of the piano’. 

Musica Viva Australia's next Sydney concert, a piano recital by Paul Lewis on 12 October at City Recital Hall, is dedicated to the memory of Maureen Jones.