Renee Lees

Lees was born in Sydney late in 1883{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145859774 |title=Music and Musicians. |newspaper=Table Talk |issue=480 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=8 September 1894 |access-date=13 October 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} to Mary Louisa Lees, née Shirley, (died 1915){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15600053 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=24,117 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=26 April 1915 |access-date=14 October 2024 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} and George Edward Lees (died 1919),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15843431 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=25,435 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=14 July 1919 |access-date=14 October 2024 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} both school teachers, who married in 1872.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162664006 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |volume=XIII |issue=618 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=4 May 1872 |accessdate=15 October 2024 |page=572 |via=National Library of Australia}}

She was educated at the Blackfriars Superior Public Girls School, where in 1890 her musical aptitude was first revealed.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article235777257 |title=Blackfriars School |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |issue=3406 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 May 1890 |access-date=14 October 2024 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} She received instruction in pianoforte from Sydney violinist Josef Kretschmann{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162075270 |title=Events of the Week. |newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |volume=XLIX |issue=1559 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=24 May 1890 |access-date=13 October 2024 |page=1136 |via=National Library of Australia}} (c. 1837 – 30 April 1918).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15767511 |title=Death of Josef Kretschmann |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=25,060 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=1 May 1918 |access-date=13 October 2024 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}

She gave her first public concert in Glebe, New South Wales in 1893.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155401381 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Methodist (Sydney) |volume=II |issue=43 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 October 1893 |access-date=13 October 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In 1894, when not yet 11, it was said that she played Bach and Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt " . . . with a refinement of intelligence and taste which cannot be regarded as other than an instinct."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236156191 |title=A Child Pianist |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |issue=4738 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=31 August 1894 |access-date=14 October 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}

She undertook a three months' tour of New Zealand in 1899, as accompanist to juvenile violinist Ernest Toy.{{cite web |url=https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.121735 |title=Theatre poster: Opera House [Wellington] :Ernest Toy Concert Company |publisher=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=14 October 2024}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113273306 |title=Stageland |newspaper=The Evening News (Sydney) |issue=9987 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=10 June 1899 |access-date=13 October 2024 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} before proceeding to London, accompanied by her mother, for further instruction with Georg Liebling.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71337181 |title=Sydney Social News. |newspaper=Australian Town and Country Journal |volume=LIX |issue=1556 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=2 December 1899 |access-date=13 October 2024 |page=45 |via=National Library of Australia}} She received good notices,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126283401 |title=Last Night's Amusements |newspaper=Sunday Times (Sydney) |issue=760 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 August 1900 |access-date=13 October 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} but returned to Australia before a year had elapsed,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71390106 |title=Sydney Social News |newspaper=Australian Town and Country Journal |volume=LXI |issue=1607 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=24 November 1900 |access-date=13 October 2024 |page=44 |via=National Library of Australia}} a sure sign that she had not been accepted in the front rank of performers.

She found favor in George Musgrove's troupe, as accompanist to important singers, such as Sylvia Blackston.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132384796 |title=Amusements |newspaper=The Hebrew Standard of Australasia |volume=14 |issue=48 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 June 1910 |access-date=13 October 2024 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}

She was hired to play the Wurlitzer organ at the Rialto Theatre, Sydney, when it opened in 1922,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128218079 |title=Pitt Street Palatial Theatre |newspaper=Sunday Times (Sydney) |issue=1885 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 March 1922 |access-date=12 October 2024 |page=10 (Social and Magazine Section) |via=National Library of Australia}} and in 1928, when Melbourne's State Theatre's Wurlitzer organ (now in Moorabbin Town Hall) was opened by Frank D. Lanterman, Lees accompanied him at the minor console.{{cite web|url=https://localhistory.kingston.vic.gov.au/articles/119 |title=Kingston's Mighty Wurlitzer |publisher=City of Kingston |author=Greg Alabaster |access-date=13 October 2024}}

In the 1940s and 1950s she performed regularly on radio, as soloist and accompanist, piano and organ, mostly on AM radio 2NA and 2FC. She died at Petersham, New South Wales.{{cite news |newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald |title=Deaths |date=19 December 1966 |via=Ryerson Index}}

Renee Lees had a brother Percy S(hirley) Lees (c. 1877 – 6 September 1959), a teacher,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220096555 |title=Retirements |newspaper=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |issue=38 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 March 1941 |access-date=15 October 2024 |page=1208 |via=National Library of Australia}} and secretary of the N.S.W. Cyclists' Union 1903–1906. Her sister Elsie (died 23 August 1951) married Alfred Ernest Quinton.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18417980 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=36,280 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=2 April 1954 |access-date=14 October 2024 |page=22 |via=National Library of Australia}}

She married or otherwise changed her name to Renee Perry,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18221669 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=35,468 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 August 1951 |access-date=14 October 2024 |page=44 |via=National Library of Australia}} with which name she died, but still known professionally as Lees.

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Category:1883 births

Category:1966 deaths

Category:Australian women organists

Category:Australian women classical pianists

Category:Child classical musicians