Janetta McStay

[3] Her father, Hugh William McStay, had no formal musical education but great natural talent that enabled him to play almost any instrument.

[8][9][2] A bequest from a great-uncle and fundraising by the local Invercargill community helped to raise money for her to go,[2] and in 1935, aged 18, she sailed to England[3] to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

[2] She toured England with a small group of Spanish artists under the auspices of the Arts Council of Great Britain.

[2][19] She played with some of the greatest artists from around the world[20] including, among others, violinists Szymon Goldberg, Ruggiero Ricci, Ladislav Jásek and Henryk Szerying, cellist James Whitehead, trumpet players Gordon Webb and Albert McKinnon and Paul Robeson.

[28] She toured from New Zealand to many countries including Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Pacific Islands and Australia.

[1] In 1960, she and Frederick Page were invited by the Chinese Government to China to attend the National Day celebrations in October.

She was a member of the QEII Arts Council Music Panel (1965–67, 1969–71, 1979–81) and the RNZ Concert Programme Advisory Committee, and was President of the Auckland Youth Orchestra (1984–98).

[1] McStay was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to music, in the 1974 Queen's Birthday Honours.