Penelope Mary Thwaites AM, (born 18 April 1944) is a concert pianist and composer, recording artist and editor. Born in the United Kingdom of Australian parents, she is a citizen of both countries. Thwaites is best-known for her interpretations of the music of Australian composers, particularly Percy Grainger. Biography She grew up in Melbourne, Australia, attending Tintern Grammar and taking a degree in Music from Melbourne University (B.Mus Hons, 1966), where she won the Ormond Exhibition and was placed first in her final year. Following a period of working internationally as musical director and composer of music for the theatre, she continued orchestration studies in London with William L Reed and piano studies with the Swiss pianist Albert Ferber, a pupil of Walter Gieseking and who often played for Sergei Rachmaninoff. Her debut at London’s Wigmore Hall in 1974 was followed by concerts and broadcasts in the UK and tours worldwide, both as solo recitalist and concerto soloist. In 1993, she appeared in the Australia Day Gala at the Royal Opera House in the presence of the Prince of Wales. Penelope has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, BBC Concert Orchestra and leading orchestras in Australia, Europe and America. Repertoire and recordings Her concert repertoire encompasses a wide range of classical composers, some represented on her 2008 CD Travelling Between Worlds (LIR). Her Bach recording (2014) for the same label was described in one review as "classic Bach keyboard works enlivened by some exquisite playing...Bach's music becomes here in one of Busoni's adaptations, richly expressive and soul searching, raptly played...an impressive survey of some wonderful good-to-be-alive music" (Sinfoni September 2014). Beginning in 1975, Penelope has made a point of including music by Australian composers such as Malcolm Williamson, Margaret Sutherland, Arthur Benjamin, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Jennifer Fowler, Alison Bauld, David Worrall, and many more, whether in solo recitals, concertos and chamber works. Her pioneering LP Australian Piano Music (Discourses 1980) was broadcast worldwide as something of a novelty at the time. Penelope found a special affinity with the music of Melbourne-born pianist and composer Percy Grainger. She has now recorded more than 260 tracks of his music: first for Pearl records (most of the four-hand repertoire with John Lavender). Her first solo discs were for Unicorn Kanchana and Regis. Most notably, Penelope is a featured solo, chamber and orchestral artist on eight of Chandos Records' 21-CD Grainger