Valerie Pitts

Valerie Pitts, Lady Solti, is the widow of Sir Georg Solti. She was one of the BBC's original team of television presenters during the 1950s. She also worked at Granada Television.

She had met Solti in September 1964 when she was sent to interview him. They married in 1967, and had two daughters, Gabrielle and Claudia. She appeared on children's television, as a presenter of "Play School" and then at Granada a series for older children, "ExtraOrdinary", which involved strange-but-true stories from science and the arts. She gave up her career as a presenter, though she continued to appear occasionally on television (notably on the quiz show, "Face The Music)" and worked with Solti for various charities.

Lady Solti is the patroness of the World Orchestra for Peace, which her husband founded and whose first concert at the United Nations he conducted. In addition, she has devoted time to other cultural organizations, including the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Trust, the Mariinsky Theatre Trust, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Musica Nel Chiostro, Battignano Italy, the Hungarian Cultural Centre (London), Liszt Academy (Budapest), and the W11 Opera children's opera company in London.

After Solti's death (September 5th, 1997), Lady Solti, Gabrielle Solti and Claudia Solti began the Solti Foundation to assist young musicians. In 2002, a website dedicated to Georg Solti was launched, under the instigation of Lady Solti [ [http://www.gramophone.co.uk/newsMainTemplate.asp?storyID=1474&newssectionID=1 Martin Cullingford, "New Solti website explores conductor's craft". "Gramophone", 18 October 2002.] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.worldorchestraforpeace.com/content/Lady_Solti_Biography.pdf Biography from World Orchestra for Peace]
* [http://www.georgsolti.com/main.html Sir Georg Solti website]