Dedicated to the memory of the British pianist Margaret Kitchin (1914–2008)

Many people remembering my mother's performances of the 1950s to 1970s have asked me to write about her career. Unfortunately much biographical information was destroyed in a fire. After she died I went through what was collected from her desk with Chris Crocker, whose idea the website was: newspaper cuttings, programmes, letters, a repertoire list, and most importantly her music. Margaret was a great annotator and logged details of her performances in her scores. Some of my childhood memories are of her playing contemporary music and being present at discussions of composers she championed around the dinner table. At the time I was unaware that this was not ‘fashionable music’ and only later realised how progessive she was in not focusing her career on a more conventional repertoire.

Claire Kitchin

As a teenage enthusiast for new music I was always hearing Margaret Kitchin's name on Radio 3, sometimes preceded by “this is the first broadcast performance of ...”, words to strike fear in some older listeners. This website was conceived while helping Claire plan a memorial concert in 2015. Further research over the following three years in books, journals, the British Library, the BBC, newspaper archives and other sources produced the repertoire list on this site, which although incomplete, establishes Margaret's immense contribution to contemporary music performance.

Chris Crocker