Hilda Gaunt (1906 – 10 October 1975) was rehearsal pianist with The Royal Ballet for over 40 years.^[1]

Gaunt first attracted attention as a pianist and accompanist in the late 1920s and early 1930s.^[2] In 1931 Gaunt became the accompanist at the Vic Wells (later Sadler's Wells) Ballet Company, also working with musical director Constant Lambert on the musical supervision of classic ballet scores.^[3][4] During wartime, when orchestras were a luxury, she toured the UK extensively with the ballet, accompanying them in performances alongside Lambert (and sometimes Harold Rutland) on two pianos, to general acclaim.^[5][6] Gaunt appeared (as the accompanist) in the film The Red Shoes (1948). At the end of her life she collaborated with Leighton Lucas, compiling the score for Kenneth MacMillan's 1974 ballet L'histoire de Manon from the music of Jules Massenet.^[7][8]

Frederick Ashton remembered Gaunt as endearing herself to Constant Lambert by being "a tremendous drinker. She'd always be on tap".^[9] Ballerina Annabel Farjeon also remembered her well at Sadler's Wells:^[10]

Hilda Gaunt sat at the battered upright piano, a cigarette drooping from her mouth as she gossiped in a husky, smokey voice. Often she was the only filter through which information about a new ballet could be sifted.

• Composer's website