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Ian Hall

(1940-), Musician; organist and music teacher; founder of the Bloomsbury International Society

Sitter in 1 portrait
The son of a Royal Air Force pilot from the colony of British Guyana (now Guyana), Hall was challenged to learn the piano by teachers at school during the summer holidays. Playing the piano day and night, the self-taught black teenager amazed his teachers at his elite London school. Focussing on mastering the organ, he became the first black graduate of Oxford University's prestigious music school. He went on to compose masterpieces, playing in the world's finest venues. He established the Bloomsbury International Society where he orchestrated multicultural performances intended to promote racial harmony through the arts by merging Western instruments with sounds from the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.

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Ian Hall

by Donald MacLellan
toned bromide print, 30 May 1996
NPG x88740

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Ian Hall

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