Internationally renowned musician and composer

As a promising teen prodigy, Percy Grainger left his Melbourne home to further his musical studies in Germany. He was accompanied by his mother, Adelaide-born Rose Aldridge. In 1901 they moved to London, where Grainger was feted as a concert pianist and toured across Europe.

While in London, he began to collect English folk songs. His piano arrangement of Country Gardens became a runaway success. But Grainger grew to detest the song. He believed its popularity drew attention away from his more important but less commercial work as a renowned international concert pianist and contemporary composer and arranger.

In 1914 he moved to America, where he spent the rest of his life pursuing diverse artistic interests that reflected his eclectic tastes. His experiments with new musical forms included a mechanical music machine that was regarded as a crude forerunner to the synthesiser.

After Grainger’s death his wife Ella, a Swedish-born artist, instructed that his remains be returned to the Aldridge family plot, where he was reunited with his much-loved mother.

The Grainger Museum in Melbourne remains a testament to his independent spirit, wide-ranging career and diverse interests.