Geoffrey Parsons (pianist)

Geoffrey Penwill Parsons AO OBE (15 June 1929 – 26 January 1995) was an Australian pianist, most particularly notable as an accompanist to singers and instrumentalists.

From 1941 to 1948 he studied with Winifred Burston (a student of Ferruccio Busoni) at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music (where a family friend, George Vern Barnett, was on the piano staff) and under the general tutelage of Eugene Goossens.

This led to a series of engagements spanning five years with the popular duettists Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, and permanent residence in Britain.

The list of singers with whom he worked included Dame Joan Hammond, Victoria de los Ángeles, Nicolai Gedda, Rita Streich, Birgit Nilsson, Hans Hotter, Hugues Cuénod, Norman Bailey, Lucia Popp and Janet Baker.

Some of these younger artists such as Susan Kessler, Yvonne Kenny, Felicity Lott and Ann Murray were also pupils of Parsons's long-time life partner, the singer Erich Vietheer.

Geoffrey Parsons also accompanied some of the world's greatest instrumentalists, including Nathan Milstein, Ruggiero Ricci, Paul Tortelier, Wanda Wiłkomirska and Ida Haendel.

Artists whom he partnered quickly appreciated his exemplary standards of musicianship, and a level of pianistic command that was totally new to the accompanist's role.

This led to his increasing recognition as the ideal accompanist in a career that saw him perform in over 40 countries in six continents, including all the major international music festivals.

His partnership with Australia was an essential part of his entire career and he became the means for bringing some of the world's most important singers and instrumentalists to his native country.

In 1967 and 1969, he appeared as one of five harpsichordists, the others being Eileen Joyce, Simon Preston, George Malcolm (1967), and Raymond Leppard (1969), in concerts with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner.