National Gallery to celebrate Myra Hess concerts
2nd August 2010
The National Gallery will publish an online resource and host a
special day of events to commemorate its history during the Second
A website will be launched to celebrate pianist Dame Myra Hess
and the concerts she founded at the National Gallery to bolster the
spirits of Londoners living through the Blitz.
The resource will explain how the wartime concerts, which were
seen by around 750,000 people, were brought to life by Hess and the
gallery, as well as how the nation's collection of paintings was
protected from German bombing raids by being hidden in a disused
Welsh slate mine.
A day of concerts will also be held at the gallery on October
5th to support the launch of the website and will feature an
appearance from violinist Ida Haendel, who performed in the wartime
shows when she was a teenager.
Hess' concerts began in October 1939 after London's music halls,
theatres, galleries and museums were closed to prevent mass
casualties during bombing raids, leaving the capital lacking
cultural pursuits. The performances were held until April 1946 -
long after the Second World War had ended.