Fondo LEM - Iris Lemare, conductor

Iris Lemare was born in London on 27 September 1902, the daughter of organist Edwin Lemare. Iris went to Bedales and then Geneva to dstudy at the Dalcroze / Eurythmics School. She went on to story the organ under George Thalben-Ball at the Royal College of Music in London, where she won the Dove Prize. She also entered the conducting class of Malcolm Sargent.

In 1931, Lemare started concerts with Elisabeth Lutyens and violinist Anne Macnaghten. She conducted several of Benjamin Britten's early works, including the premiere of his Sinfonietta opus I and later his choral 'A Boy was Born'. She also premiered several works by Alan Rawsthorne, Christian Darnton, Elizabeth Maconchy amongst others. Overall the concerts premiered over 40 new works, many of them by women.

In 1937, Lemare became the first woman to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and during her career she also conducted the Oxford Chamber Orchestra and the Carlyle Singers. She loved opera and conducted Handel's Xerxes amongst other works in the late 1930s at Pollards, a house in Essex belonging to the Howard family.

During the Second World War she founded the Lemare Orchestra. She featured many new or little-known works and her soloists included Joan Hammond, Benno Moiseivitch, Geza Anda, Peter Donohoe and many others. In the 1970s she worked in opera and presented works by Menotti, Maconchy and Britten, and the premiere of John McCabe's The Play of Mother Courage.

Following her 81st birthday she was invited by the BBC Singers to conduct a 50th anniversary performance of Britten's 'A Boy was Born'.

Aside from her working life, Lemare was a keen walker, bird-watcher, swimmer and skier. She died on 23 April 1997 at Askham Bryan near York.