New Year's Day Honours List Includes Founder of Leeds Piano Competition

By Ben Mattison
January 3, 2005

Fanny Waterman, a pianist and the founder of the Leeds International Piano Competition, is among the performing artists included in Queen Elizabeth's annual New Year's Day Honours List.

Waterman was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, receiving the female equivalent of a knighthood.

Pianist John Lill was named a Commander of the British Empire (CBE); composer Karl Jenkins was named an Officer of the British Empire (OBE).

Also receiving OBEs were Leanne Benjamin, a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet; Desmond Kelly, the assistant director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet; and Brenda Edwards, a dancer and choreographer who became the first black woman to dance with a major British company when she joined the English National Ballet in the 1980s.