Cumbria Life – Lifetime Achievement Award 2012 Winner
Renna Kellaway has enjoyed a glittering musical career as a pianist and chamber musician, performing worldwide. She and her husband, Sir John Manduell spent their honeymoon in the Lake District; falling under the spell of the stunning landscape was to prove a turning point in her life. The family moved North when John left the BBC to become Director of Music at Lancaster University; Renna continued to both judge and teach and many of her students went to have distinguished careers, but the rural North West was not a natural milieu for high calibre musical performance. Seeking to address this, Renna founded Lake District Summer Music in 1985, a summer festival with an integrated residential training Academy for talented young musicians, and latterly, creative workshops too. Local Cumbrians and visitors alike can now enjoy world-class performances of the finest music at intimate and historic venues. The economic benefit to Cumbria is an astonishing £1.8 million per annum.
Renna, Artistic Director of the Festival, believes passionately in the power of music to change lives. She was awarded MBE for Services to Music in 2009 and has worked tirelessly and selflessly for over 30 years bringing the very best music and performers to rural Cumbria. She is now recognised with the county’s Lifetime Achievement Award for the legacy she leaves for her the county so dear to her, and for music.