Her mother was an inspirational piano teacher and her musical future was assured when, sent to a convent school in Belgium, her musical talent was noticed.  Her teachers encouraged her to study music, leading her to study at piano at Liège before being awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.

Lympany made her professional debut at the extraordinarily young age of twelve where she performed Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto in G minor.  The conductor, Basil Cameron, suggested that she adopt a stage name and she chose Moura, as a Russian diminutive of Mary and and an old spelling of her mother’s maiden name, Limpenny.

After studying in Vienna, Lympany made her London debut at The Wigmore Hall in 1935 and she was the first British musician to perform in Paris after its liberation, conducted by Adrian Boult.  By the end of World War II, she was one of Britain’s most highly rated concert pianists, premiered Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto in D-flat and became loved for her interpretation of Rachmaninov’s piano concertos.

In later life, Lympany moved to France where she died, aged 88, in 2005.