Max Olding AM (4 July 1929 – 17 November 2021) and Pamela Page (born 4 April 1934) were a distinguished Australian husband and wife team of duo-pianists.
[8] Many other works have been dedicated to them by composers including Felix Werder, Peter Sculthorpe, Philip Bračanin, John Carmichael and Margaret Sutherland.
He grew up in Launceston, Tasmania, where as a pianist he often competed against Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, who later joked that he turned his focus to composition because he could never beat Olding in piano competitions.
Max Olding held positions as president of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra Society and deputy chair of the Brisbane Institute of Art.
He was patron of the Queensland Piano Tuners and Technicians Guild, and was a Life Member of the Accompanists Guild of Queensland Inc.[19] Olding was a Churchill Fellow, awarded in 1970 "To investigate new methods and techniques relating to pianoforte teaching and instruction at advanced and tertiary levels - Japan, Russia, Hungary, France, UK, USA".
[24] He was also involved in conducting symphonic, choral, operatic and theatre works as well as teaching, administration and as organist and choirmaster.
In 2011, Olding (along with Page) received a Doctor of Music honoris causa from the University of Queensland, where he had taught piano for many years.
[25] He also held senior teaching and administrative positions at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University[26] (deputy director and principal lecturer in piano); QUT (acting head and senior lecturer); and City University of New York (visiting professor).
[3] She won an Empire Overseas Scholarship to study at Trinity College of Music, London, where she was awarded the Maude Seton Prize for the most outstanding student.
Back in Australia, Page provided the close-up scenes of the pianist's hands in Wherever She Goes,[28] a 1951 biographical film about Eileen Joyce (whose character was otherwise played by Suzanne Parrett).