Harry Waldo Warner

Harry Waldo Warner (4 January 1874 - 1 June 1945) was an English viola player and composer, one of the founding members of the London String Quartet and a several times Cobbett Competition winner for his chamber music.

Born in Northampton (at 57 Grafton Street)[1] Warner studied from the age of 14 at the Guildhall School of Music under Alfred Gibson for violin and Orlando Morgan for composition, later becoming a professor there.

[2] He was enthusiastic, and then Thomas W. Petre (second violin) was found and finally Albert Sammons, the new Concertmaster of Beecham's orchestra, was asked to lead the quartet.

[3] The quartet gave concerts mainly in the UK but travelled to Amsterdam and Paris, with a repertoire extending from the classical period to contemporary works – including Verklärte Nacht in the presence of the composer.

But she also became a champion of Warner, whose Trio for piano, violin and cello in A minor went on to win first prize at Mrs Coolidge's 1921 chamber music competition in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

[10] The three movement piece "shows great vigour and metrical flexibility, both pungent and elegant, and with hints of both French models and of then-popular chinoiserie".

[18] There are also two comic operas written early in his career, The Royal Vagrants: a story of conscientious objection (1899)[19] and Cupid’s Market, as well as many songs for solo and chorus.

Under the name Ken Warner he became well-known as a dance band player (saxophone and violin, with Peter Yorke and Fred Hartley), and from 1940 at the BBC as an arranger and composer of light music.