Helen Hopekirk

Helen Hopekirk was a Scottish-born American pianist and composer, who after the age of 40, lived and worked in Boston, Massachusetts.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Helen Hopekirk.

From the period sources

Helen Hopekirk, a Scottish pianist and native of Edinburgh, cultivated a refined style and brilliant execution, as noted by the Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (1886). She studied in her hometown and at Leipzig, later broadening her training with figures such as Lichtenstein, Mackenzie, Leschetizky, Navratil, and Mandl, according to The New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1924). Hopekirk made her debut in Leipzig in 1879 and subsequently performed successfully across Europe and the United States, touring America in 1883-85 and again in 1891-92. While she initially resided in Edinburgh as a teacher, she later traveled as a concert-giver. From 1897, she settled in Boston, becoming a “favorite teacher” and introducing many modern French works, as reported by Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians: American Supplement (1920) and The New Encyclopedia (1924). Her compositions include a piano concerto, a Concertstück for piano and orchestra, two violin sonatas, two piano suites, and approximately one hundred songs. Her work “Sundown” received special attention from the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, and she notably taught piano to Edward Ballantine, who later became an instructor in theory at Harvard.