Lance Dossor
Great Britain, °1916 - 2005 †
Born and schooled at Weston-super-Mare in the West of England, Lance Dossor achieved a great boost to his musical career when at the age of only 16 he won a major open scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London. There he studied piano with Herbert Fryer and composition with Herbert Howells, and won numerous awards and prizes.
He then scored a series of successes in international piano competitions, including the Franz Liszt Prize at the third Vienna International Competition in 1936; Fourth Prize and a Special Prize at the third Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1937; and Fourth Prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1938.
Lance Dossor then served briefly on the part-time staff of the Royal College of Music before being called up for military service in 1939. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery and served with them in Egypt. He was then invited to join ENSA (the troops' entertainment wing) whilst still with the RA, and did tours of Germany and Italy. He was in uniform until 1946, when he rejoined the staff of the RCM, now as a full-time professor of piano.
In 1953 the fourth Elder Professor of Music, John Bishop, headhunted Lance Dossor and enticed him to the Elder Conservatorium, initially on a three-year contract. He stayed and became a central figure in the musical life of the University of Adelaide. After his retirement from full-time teaching, at the end of the 1970s, he continued to teach part-time for another 20 years.
He then scored a series of successes in international piano competitions, including the Franz Liszt Prize at the third Vienna International Competition in 1936; Fourth Prize and a Special Prize at the third Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1937; and Fourth Prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1938.
Lance Dossor then served briefly on the part-time staff of the Royal College of Music before being called up for military service in 1939. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery and served with them in Egypt. He was then invited to join ENSA (the troops' entertainment wing) whilst still with the RA, and did tours of Germany and Italy. He was in uniform until 1946, when he rejoined the staff of the RCM, now as a full-time professor of piano.
In 1953 the fourth Elder Professor of Music, John Bishop, headhunted Lance Dossor and enticed him to the Elder Conservatorium, initially on a three-year contract. He stayed and became a central figure in the musical life of the University of Adelaide. After his retirement from full-time teaching, at the end of the 1970s, he continued to teach part-time for another 20 years.
