Norah Drewett de Kresz

Norah Drewett de Kresz (née Drewett), pianist, teacher (born 14 June 1882 in Sutton, England; died 24 April 1960 in Budapest, Hungary). A piano pupil of Victor-Alphonse Duvernoy at the Paris Conservatory and of Bernhard Stavenhagen in Munich, Norah Drewett also studied briefly with Leonid Kreutzer in Berlin and played in recitals and with chamber groups. She made her orchestral debut 31 Jan 1904 in Monte Carlo. She married the violinist Géza de Kresz in 1918; they gave duo-recitals upon moving to Toronto (at the bequest of Boris Hambourg) in 1923. She made her New York solo debut in 1926. The duo's first Canadian recital was in Massey Hall 30 Oct 1923; they continued as a duo until 1951. Drewett de Kresz also appeared regularly as a guest with the Hart House String Quartet, in which her husband was first violin. She taught 1928-35 at the Toronto Conservatory of Music, then moved to Hungary in 1935, teaching at the Hambourg Conservatory and 1938-41 at the National Conservatory in Budapest, and then privately. She returned to Toronto in 1947, only to return to Budapest for the last few months of her life. Her pupils included Patricia Blomfield Holt and Ida Krehm.