Janetta McStay

McStay was born on 20 May 1917 in Roxburgh, New Zealand.{{Cite journal|last=Taylor|first=Alister|date=2001|title=McStay, Janetta Mary|journal=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa|publisher=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa Ltd|pages=620|issn=1172-9813}} She had Scottish and Irish heritage and grew up in Invercargill in a musical family of six children.{{Cite journal|last=Guerin|first=David|date=Summer 2001–02|title=An unexpectedly vivid life|url=http://www.musicinnz.com/Issues/mcstay.htm|journal=Music in New Zealand}} Her mother, Mary (née Auld) enjoyed singing Scottish songs.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/appointment/audio/2525496/janetta-mcstay-1917-2012|title=Janetta McStay (1917–2012)|date=21 September 2015|website=RNZ |access-date=13 September 2019}} Her father, Hugh William McStay, had no formal musical education but great natural talent that enabled him to play almost any instrument. He died when she was 14.{{Cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/culture/7253304/Humble-beginnings-to-the-world-stage|title=Humble beginnings to the world stage|last=Fallow|first=Michael|date=30 July 2012|website=Stuff }}

McStay attended Southland Girls' High School. She studied piano from the age of five, first under Mona Rankin and then under May O'Byrne (later May Jones),{{Cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/speech/45151/learning-at-home-and-internationally|title=Arts education and training: Learning at home and internationally|last=Cook|first=Megan|date=22 October 2014|website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=13 September 2019}} and gained high marks in piano exams, including the highest marks in the country in Grade Eight{{Cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19340222.2.17|title=Music examinations: awards to candidates|date=22 February 1934|work=Auckland Star |access-date=13 September 2019}} and the highest marks in the South Island for her licentiate exam.{{Cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19350223.2.39|title=Music examinations: special awards made|date=23 February 1935|work=New Zealand Herald |access-date=13 September 2019}} While still at school, she played in country concerts for local farming communities and in a school orchestra led by Alex Lindsay, later a highly acclaimed professional musician himself.

At age 17, she was awarded an Associated Board Scholarship to London.{{Cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19350322.2.127 |title=Music scholarships tenable in London: three New Zealanders |date=22 March 1935 |work=New Zealand Herald |access-date=13 September 2019}}{{Cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19350322.2.164 |title=Royal Schools of Music: exhibitions awarded |date=22 March 1935 |work=The Press |access-date=13 September 2019}} A bequest from a great-uncle and fundraising by the local Invercargill community helped to raise money for her to go, and in 1935, aged 18, she sailed to England to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

During her studies, she won a number of prizes and awards, including the Challen gold medal,{{Cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19380805.2.47|title=Honour for pianist: Invercargill student: success at Royal Academy|date=5 August 1938|work=Otago Daily Times |access-date=13 September 2019}} the Walter Macfarren gold medal,{{Cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19390822.2.36|title=New Zealand students R.A.M. successes: two prize winners|date=22 August 1939|work=Otago Daily Times |access-date=13 September 2019}} and the Janet Duff Greet Prize for a performance of contemporary music.

In 1939, with war looming and her studies finished, McStay took up a teaching job at St Swithun's School, Winchester. Later in the war, she auditioned for Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), and joined a small classical music concert party under Walter Legge, which toured England, Holland, Belgium and France (and after the war, to the occupied zone of Germany) from 1942 to 1946 to play to the armed forces.

In 1947, she travelled for the first time to Spain (a country that continued to fascinate her for the rest of her life). She toured England with a small group of Spanish artists under the auspices of the Arts Council of Great Britain.{{Cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19470909.2.21|title=News of the Day: N.Z. pianist's success|date=9 September 1947|work=Otago Daily Times |access-date=13 September 2019}} She also played in numerous broadcasts for the BBC.{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?adv=0&q=Janetta+McStay&media=all&yf=1923&yt=2009&mf=1&mt=12&tf=00%3A00&tt=00%3A00#search|title=Janetta McStay|website=BBC Genome Radio Times 1923-2009|access-date=19 October 2019}}

In 1954, she returned to New Zealand where she took up the first of many contracts with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation{{Cite journal|date=7 May 1954|title=I know what I think: a New Zealand pianist|journal=NZ Listener}} and began a series of nationwide tours for the New Zealand Chamber Music Federation (now Chamber Music New Zealand) and the Community Arts Service, playing in venues that ranged from concert halls to people's homes.{{Cite web|url=https://heritage.hamiltonlibraries.co.nz/objects/2774/janetta-mcstay-c1954|title=Janetta McStay, c 1954: Programme|website=Hamilton City Libraries: Te Ohomauri o Kirikiriroa Heritage Collections|access-date=13 September 2019}} She also carried out a three-month tour of Japan as pianist for English violinist Maurice Clare.{{Cite web|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Salient17121953-t1-body-d13.html|title=Maurice Clare: three recitals|date=1 July 1053|website=NZETC|access-date=13 September 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/upbeat/audio/2522459/janetta-mcstay-obituary|title=Janetta McStay obituary|last=Mechen|first=Peter|date=20 June 2012|website=RNZ |access-date=13 September 2019}}

Over the following years she played with the Alex Lindsay String Orchestra,{{Cite web|url=https://www.sounz.org.nz/resources/8683|title=Alex Lindsay String Orchestra – CD|website=SOUNZ|access-date=13 September 2019}} the New Zealand Wind Quintet, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) and visiting conductors such as Karel Ančerl and Alceo Galliera.{{Cite book|title=The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra: the first forty years|last=Tonks|first=Joy|publisher=Reed Methuen|year=1986|page=108}} She played with some of the greatest artists from around the world{{Cite web|url=https://www.sounz.org.nz/contributors/1425|title=Janetta McStay: Performer|website=SOUNZ|access-date=13 September 2019}} 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. She also worked with artists in New Zealand, such as Ruth Pearl{{Cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/obituaries/695500/Ruth-Pearl|title=Ruth Pearl|date=31 January 2009|website=Stuff |access-date=14 September 2019}} and Marie Blaschke.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishonlinemuseum.net/marie-blaschke|title=Marie Blaschke|website=Jewish Online Museum|access-date=14 September 2019}}

McStay performed the New Zealand premier of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, after writing to the composer, care of the Russian State Music Agency in Moscow, to ask for a copy of his new work.{{Cite web|url=https://digitalnz.org/records/30594401/russian-composer-sends-nz-pianist-score-of-concerto-upper-hutt-leader-17-ap|title=Russian composer sends NZ pianist score of concerto|date=26 March 2013|website=DigitalNZ|access-date=13 September 2019}}

She was the featured soloist in the first NZSO Proms concert on 16 April 1955, playing Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor.{{Cite book|title=The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra: the First Forty Years|last=Tonks|first=Joy|publisher=Reed Methuen|year=1986|page=74}} In February 1956, she was among a group of the country's leading pianists who were the first to play Wellington Town Hall's new Steinway piano; she played Mozart's C minor Concerto (K491).{{Cite book|title=The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra: the First Forty Years|last=Tonks|first=Joy|publisher=Reed Methuen|year=1986|page=75}} In 1961 she played with the Berlin Chamber Orchestra,{{Cite news|title=Fact, comment, gossip: Honour for NZ pianist|date=8 June 1961|work=Christchurch Star}}{{Cite news|title=Berlin Orchestra impressively fine|date=10 August 1961|work=Christchurch Star}} and in 1968 she played with the Borodin Quartet. She was an excellent soloist but had a special passion for playing chamber music.{{Cite book|title=The Oxford History of New Zealand Music|last=Thomson|first=John Mansfield|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1991|isbn=0195581768|location=Auckland, NZ|pages=189}}

She toured from New Zealand to many countries including Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Pacific Islands and Australia. In 1960, she and Frederick Page were invited by the Chinese Government to China to attend the National Day celebrations in October.

In 1963, McStay moved from Wellington to Auckland as the inaugural lecturer in piano at the University of Auckland Music Conservatorium. She taught there for 20 years until her retirement.{{Cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/classical-musicians/print|title=Classical musicians: music teachers|last=Walls|first=Peter|date=22 October 2014|website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=13 September 2019}} Many of her students have gone on to have illustrious musical careers in New Zealand and overseas.

The Janetta McStay Prize for Pianists is now awarded by the University of Auckland in her name.{{Cite web|url=https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/scholarships-and-awards/find-a-scholarship/janetta-mcstay-prize-for-pianists-p700-cai.html|title=Janetta McStay Prize for Pianists|website=The University of Auckland|access-date=19 October 2019}}

Some of her students included:

• Katherine Austin{{Cite web|url=http://www.nzchambersoloists.nz/katherine-austin.html|title=Katherine Austin|website=New Zealand Chamber Soloists|access-date=13 September 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/about/staff/kaustin|title=Katherine Austin: Senior Lecturer in Piano, Concert Coordinator, Undergraduate and International Student Adviser, School of Arts|website=The University of Waikato: Te Whare Wananga o Waikato|access-date=13 September 2019}}
• Christine Cuming
• Read Gainsford{{Cite web|url=https://music.fsu.edu/person/read-gainsford|title=Read Gainsford: Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies|website=Florida State University College of Music|access-date=13 September 2019}}
• Jeffrey Grice{{Cite web|url=http://seenandheard-international.com/2014/04/interprete-extraordinaire-returns-to-his-new-zealand-roots/|title="Interprète extraordinaire" Returns to his New Zealand Roots|last=Mechen|first=Peter|date=20 April 2014|website=Seen and heard international|access-date=19 October 2019}}
• Christine Griffiths{{Cite web|url=https://www.raglanartscentre.co.nz/2018/06/30/jul-15-classical-evening-with-david-and-christine-griffiths/|title=Classical evening with David and Christine Griffiths|date=30 June 2018|website=Raglan Old School Arts Centre|access-date=13 September 2019}}
• David Guerin{{Cite web|url=https://www.sounz.org.nz/contributors/1412|title=David Guerin: Commissioner, Performer|website=SOUNZ|access-date=13 September 2019}}
• David James{{Cite web|url=https://www.edgenz.com/whoweare/Arts/Index.asp|title=Famous faces in the arts: David James|website=EdgeNZ|access-date=13 September 2019}}
• Patrick O'Byrne
• Cathy Riley{{Cite web|url=https://crosseyedpianist.com/2013/07/23/at-the-piano-with-catherine-riley/|title=At the piano with... Catherine Riley|date=23 July 2013|website=The Cross-Eyed Pianist|access-date=13 September 2019}}
• Bryan Sayer{{Cite web|url=https://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/about/school-of-arts/music/staff-contacts/bryan-sayer|title=Bryan Sayer: Research Associate: Music Programme, School of Arts|website=The University of Waikato: Te Whare Wananga o Waikato|access-date=13 September 2019}}

McStay held the LRSM (Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music), LRAM (Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music) and ARAM (Hon) (Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music).

She was Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor in piano performance at the University of Auckland. 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).

McStay was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to music, in the 1974 Queen's Birthday Honours.{{London Gazette |issue=46312 |date=15 June 1974 |page=6830 |supp=3}} She was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to music, in the 1989 New Year Honours.{{London Gazette |issue=51580 |date=31 December 1988 |page=34 |supp=3}}

In 1991, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music by the University of Auckland.

McStay married Frank Newhook in 1975. She died on 14 June 2012, aged 95.{{Cite web|url=http://www.amemorytree.co.nz/remembrance.php?personid=8449364305d1066a86c6af3|title=In memory of Janetta Mary Newhook|website=A memory tree|access-date=14 September 2019}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/appointment/audio/2525496/janetta-mcstay-1917-2012 Janetta McStay (1917–2012)]: an interview on RNZ from 2007 with Peter Mechen
• [http://www.musicinnz.com/Issues/mcstay.htm "An unexpectedly vivid life"]: an interview with David Guerin in Music in New Zealand, Summer 2001–02, issue number 40

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Category:1917 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:People from Invercargill

Category:New Zealand classical pianists

Category:New Zealand women classical pianists

Category:New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire

Category:New Zealand people of Scottish descent

Category:New Zealand people of Irish descent

Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland