Past tutors:

Bernard Roberts (Founder Tutor)

Bernard Roberts has long been acknowledged as one of Britain's leading pianists.

His repertoire ranges from the early classics to the great works of the 20th century and his profound Beethoven interpretations have received particular acclaim.

The Classic FM hit parade recently featured his highly praised recordings of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas which are available on compact disc on the Nimbus label.
He has performed at all the major British festivals and has been associated with the Dartington International Summer School for many years. His international career takes him throughout Europe, America and the Far East and he has given masterclasses at many leading festivals including the Van Cliburn Piano Institute in Fort Worth Texas. Teaching and performing commitments takes him regularly to Denmark and Germany.
In addition to his recital work Bernard Roberts often appears as concerto soloist with leading orchestras here and abroad. He is by now well known to Radio 3 listeners and he has been the subject of a 40-minute television documentary made for BBC2 by the director Mischa Scorer. Time is set aside each year for chamber music and he particularly enjoys performing the piano trio repertoire with his sons Andrew and Nicholas.

Website: freespace.virgin.net/caroline.ireland/intro.html

Philip Fowke

Philip Fowke is one of Britain’s most distinguished pianists. His appearances with leading orchestras in the UK, together with his many broadcasts and recordings have earned respect and admiration internationally. His outstanding musicianship is acknowledged by the many orchestras and conductors with whom he has worked including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Tadaaki Otaka, Sir Simon Rattle, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Yuri Temirkanov and Klaus Tennstedt.

The highlight of recent seasons have included a performance of the Warsaw Concerto at the Royal Albert Hall, London, as part of the BBC Promenade Concert Season broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC 2 Television. This was his 12th Prom appearance. He also premiered Richard Bissill’s Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra with the London Philharmonic conducted by Ramon Gamba at the Royal Festival Hall. The same season also included an appearance with the City of Birmingham Orchestra at Symphony Hall conducted by Carl Davis. In addition he has performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concert no.2 at the Royal Festival Hall, London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Litolff Scherzo with the Ulster Symphony Orchestra in Belfast. And the Grieg Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic at the Barbican, London

Philip Fowke, Senior Fellow of Keyboard, Trinity College of Music, gives regular masterclasses and has been invited to adjudicate on panels for international competitions. In 2007 he will be a tutor at the International Hereford Summer School as well as at Chethams Summer School He is a member of the London Piano Quartet together with Nona Liddell, violin, Elizabeth Turnbull, viola, and David Kenedy, cello, all professors at Trinity College of Music. They have recorded music by Cyril Scott and by Alan Bush both receiving excellent reviews.

Agents Website: www.patrickgarvey.com

Murray McLachlan

“Murray McLachlan is a pianist with a virtuoso technique and a sure sense of line. His timing and phrasing are impeccable, and his tone-full but unforced in the powerful passages, gentle and restrained in the more lyrical- is a perpetual delight” (BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE)

As a concert artist Murray McLachlan has received outstanding critical acclaim for intelligent and sensitive interpretations and superb technical ability. His prolific discography has received long-standing international recognition and includes over thirty commercial recordings, including the complete sonatas of Beethoven and Prokofiev and many rarities.

McLachlan’s repertoire includes over 40 concertos and he has appeared as soloist with most of the leading UK orchestras. His recognition has been far-reaching, bringing many invitations to perform abroad. In recent seasons his engagements have included performances in the USA, Scandinavia, South Africa, Poland , Byelorussia and Norway. In 1997 he was awarded a knighthood by the Order of St John of Jerusalem in recognition of his services to music in Malta. In 2003 he performed the complete cycle of 32 Beethoven Sonatas to critical acclaim in Manchester, and in 2004 his Wigmore Hall Erik Chisholm Centenary Recital and subsequent national tour attracted superlatives in the national press. His intense schedule continued this year with a ‘Shostakovich Centenary Recital tour’, sponsored by the UK Shostakovich Society and including 15 concerts all over the UK. This included a return to the Wigmore Hall in September.

Murray McLachlan has given first performances of works by many composers, including Martin Butler, Ronald Stevenson, Charles Camilleri, Michael Parkin and even Beethoven! Recordings of contemporary music have won numerous accolades, including full star ratings, as well as ‘rosette’ and ‘key recording’ status in the latest Penguin Guide to CDs, and ‘Disc of the month’ and ‘Record of the month’ in ‘Music on the web’ and ‘The Herald’.. He is Head of keyboard at Chetham’s school of Music and tutor at the Royal Northern College of Musc in Manchester, as well as Artistic Director of the Chetham’s International Summer school and festival for Pianists, an event which attracts outstanding musicians annually from all over the world.

Website: www.murraymclachlan.com

John Barstow

John Barstow studied piano and composition at the Royal College of Music with Cyril Smith and Bernard Stevens, winning all the major awards for solo and concerto playing. In 1961, his winning of the first NFMS Award, along with his Wigmore Hall debut, launched an international career. The Times reported the "debut of a fine British pianist - cause for patriotic cheers! His Promenade debut was made playing Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto. He plays a notably wide-ranging repertoire, from Byrd to Boulez, and his career has included several first performances. He has broadcast widely, and travels extensively giving masterclasses and serving on international piano juries. He has been a Professor in the RCM for over 40 years, and was elected a Fellow of the College in its centenary year. Included in a long list of distinguished former students is Barry Douglas, outright winner of the 1986 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. John Barstow was appointed MBE in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to music education.

Website: www.rcm.ac.uk

Richard Mc Mahon

Known internationally for over three decades as a teacher and concert pianist, Richard McMahon now heads the keyboard department of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

As a boy growing up in the North of England, his first studies were with Ella Pounder, herself a student of the acclaimed pianist Solomon. Unusually, he had gained the LRAM and ARCM Performing Diplomas whilst still at school before continuing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Gordon Green. He was awarded the prestigious Recital Diploma in 1970 having previously received a BMus degree from the University of London in 1968. He also received various scholarships that funded further study, now in Paris, with the distinguished French pianist Vlado Perlemuter.

Perlemuter had studied with Ravel and Richard used this opportunity to make a special study of this composer`s repertoire as well as music by the other French masters as well as the works of Chopin. His solo career also began at this time and was marked by succesful London debuts followed by concerts throughout the UK. His many solo recordings for the BBC ranged through a wide repertoire and have included rarities such as the bagatelles of Daniel Jones, the Bridge Sonata and the first Tippett Sonata as well as the three Sonatas of Hindemith paired with the last three Sonatas of Haydn. He also made the first broadcast in Britain of the Concerto for piano and orchestra by Michael Torke Bronze.

Whilst at the Academy, he met Anne Shasby and forming a piano duo as students, they found immediate success after Wigmore and South Bank recitals featuring Stravinsky`s formidable arrangement of `Le Sacre du Printemps` for 4 hands. Concerts throughout the UK and innumerable broadcasts followed and were to continue for over a decade, including television appearances, Promenade concerts , appearances at all the major London venues working as a duo and with celebrated conductors and orchestras throughout the UK and overseas. In this time they performed and recorded almost the entire repertoire for two pianists.

The `70`s also marked the beginning of Richard`s long association as a teacher with Cardiff and Wales and he has made his home in Cardiff since 1975. He was for many years on the staff of University College before taking up his present position at the RWCMD in 1996. His teaching life has now also taken on an international dimension involving him in adjudicating and master classes at home and overseas as well as teaching and administrating hopefully one of the more enterprising departments in British conservatoires.

Since the `80`s he has also been known as a performer in duo with Martin Jones. Their two piano CD`s of the works of Percy Grainger and the complete Rachmanoinoff were acclaimed by the critics as was Richard`s solo recording of the complete piano works of Chabrier. He also regularly partners James Clark who is the Concertmaster of the Philharmonia as well as many of the distinguished instrumentalists who regularly visit the RWCMD.

He visits Singapore twice a year where he moderates the BMus Degree course at the NanYang Academy of Fine Arts and most recently he has visited and taught in the Conservatoire at Shenyang, Northern China and the Conservatorium in Newcastle, New South Wales in Australia . He is also the musical advisor and chair of the jury for the Newport International Piano Competition.

Website: www.rwcmd.ac.uk/keyboard

Vanessa Latarche

After studying at the Royal College of Music, London, and in Paris and the USA, Vanessa was a prizewinner in several international piano competitions. She has worked with many European orchestras, has broadcast numerous recitals for BBC Radio 3, and taken part in festivals as both soloist and chamber musician; she has partnered leading soloists such as Michael Collins.

Before becoming Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music, she was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London (1992–2005). She is a moderator, trainer and diploma examiner for the Associated Board, for which she travels extensively, and has adjudicated for the BBC Young Musician and other international competitions.

Website: www.rcm.ac.uk

Andrew Ball - pianist

Andrew Ball studied piano with Kendall Taylor at the Royal College of Music, as well as taking a First in music at The Queen's College, Oxford. A busy and esteemed performing career has always shown a wide-ranging and innovative approach to repertoire. Highlights have included Messiaen at the Henry Wood Proms, the complete sonatas of Tippett (which he studied with the composer ), and the British premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's Piano Sonata at the Bath Festival.

More recently he performed in Stravinsky's Les Noces at the Barbican under Valery Gergiev, and recorded 16 newly commissioned songs by contemporary british composers for NMC. He was Head of Keyboard at the RCM from 1999-2005, and was made a Fellow of the college in 2205. He still has a busy teaching schedule there, and also gives masterclasses around the world, most recently in Spain, Germany, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He has been on many competition juries, both in the UK and, recently, in Dresden, Amsterdam and New Orleans.

 

Andrew Ball a fait ses études de piano avec Kendall Taylor au Royal College of Music à Londres et il a eu sa licence en musique avec mention très bien à Queens College Oxford. Au cours de sa carrière distinguée il a toujours choisi un répertoire varié et une approche pleine d’initiative:  il a joué Messiaen aux Promenade Concerts à la Royal Albert Hall à Londres, toutes les sonates pour piano de Michael Tippett (qu’il a étudiées avec le compositeur), et il a donné la première britannique de la sonate de piano de Sofia Gubaidulina au festival de Bath.

Parmi ses engagements récents il a joué dans Les Noces de Stravinsky sous la direction de Valery Gergiev à la Barbican Hall à Londres, et il a enregistré une collection de chansons commandées de compositeurs britanniques contemporains. De 1999 à 2005 il était directeur des études de piano au Royal College où il est encore professeur. Il donne des cours de maître partout dans le monde, récemment en Espagne, en Allemagne, à Hong Kong et à Taiwan. Il a été membre du jury pour plusieurs concours internationaux en Grande-Bretagne et dernièrement à Dresden, à Amsterdam et à la Nouvelle-Orléans.

Translations by Elizabeth Wardle

Noriko Ogawa - Pianist

Noriko Ogawa was awarded third prize in the 1987 Leeds International Piano Competition and has since achieved considerable renown in Europe, America and in her native Japan where she is a national celebrity.
In 1999 Noriko Ogawa was awarded the Japanese Ministry of Education's Art Prize in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the cultural profile of Japan throughout the world and she has just been awarded the Okura Prize for her outstanding contribution to music in Japan. In 2004 she was appointed as one of the advisors for a new concert hall in her hometown in Japan, the MUZA Kawasaki Symphony Hall. Here she remains much in demand, appearing at major arts festivals, performing regularly with the major orchestras and making regular radio and television broadcasts for both NHK and Nippon television.  Following her success at Leeds, Ogawa gained a devoted following. Ogawa records regularly for the BBC as recitalist and soloist, gives chamber recitals and appears with all the major UK, European, Japanese and US orchestras. Ogawa is also renowned as a recitalist and chamber musician; concerts have taken her all over the world and included a tour of Japan with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Ensemble and the leader of the Vienna Philharmonic, Rainer Honeck. 2001 saw the launch of her piano duo with renowned pianist Kathryn Stott, with whom she recently completed a highly successful Japanese tour. Ogawa also collaborates with Steven Isserlis, Isabelle van Keulen, Martin Roscoe and Michael Collins. Noriko has recently completed a chamber tour in Japan with Evelyn Glennie which saw the premier of new work for two pianos and percussion, commissioned by Noriko from Yoshihiro Kanno. In November 2007, Noriko made her debut with the Orchestre National de Lille.

Ogawa’s ability to communicate with audiences of all levels distinguishes her from other soloists. She introduces recitals and is sought after for presenting both on the radio (UK and Japan) and also television, recently appearing on BBC Worldwide in ‘Visionaries’ as an advocate for Takemitsu. Ogawa has written her first book (released in Japan) and is a regular columnist for the music press both here and in Japan.

Ogawa regularly adjudicates major international competitions including the BBC Young Musician of the Year, The Manchester International Piano Competition, The Scottish International Piano Competition.
She also has regular teaching commitments at the Guildhall School of Music and is in demand as a teacher giving masterclassess  around the world including The University of Aukland, University of Waikito, Chethams International Summer School, and the London College of Music.  Ogawa enjoys collaborating in education outreach exampled in her series ‘Jamie’s concerts’ for autistic children and parents.

Since 1997 Noriko Ogawa has been an exclusive recording artist for BIS Records. Her recordings include works by Japanese composers, including Toru Takemitsu Riverrun (awarded Editor's Choice in the January edition of Gramophone Magazine), Rachmaninov Second and Third Piano Concertos, Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, (selected as the Critics' Choice 1998 by BBC Music Magazine). Ogawa has also released the remaining concertos of Rachmaninov, and discs of music by Tcherepnin and Saint-Saens. Future and recent releases include Grieg Piano Concerto in A Minor with the Bergen Philharmonic, Delius music for piano duo and Graham Fitkin's double concerto Circuit both with duo partner Kathryn Stott.
Ogawa's ongoing series with BIS is the complete solo works for piano by Debussy of which volumes one and two have been met with critical acclaim the world over, the latter winning Editor's Choice in the March 2003 edition of Gramophone Magazine.. The recently released third volume has been met with equal admiration from critics, further establishing her profile as a Debussy expert and winning Editor's Choice in the January 2006 edition of Gramophone Magazine.

 

Le troisième prix du concours international pour piano est décerné à Noriko Ogawa à Leeds en 1987. Après ses débuts européens, elle se forge rapidement une réputation considérable en Europe, aux États-Unis et au Japon. Native du Japon, elle y est une célébrité nationale. 

Très sollicitée en Grande Bretagne et invitée habituelle des principaux festivals d’été, elle a joué avec la plupart des grands orchestres britanniques et ses concerts sont diffusés régulièrement à la télévision et à la radio. Ses succès notamment à Leeds lui valent un public enthousiaste et fidèle. Elle donne des récitals de piano et se produit en soliste régulièrement devant les caméras de la BBC et auprès d’un grand nombre d’orchestres internationaux de pointe. Elle donne aussi des récitals de la musique de chambre et est invitée autour du monde. Elle effectue une tournée en Japon avec l’Ensemble philharmonique et instrumental à vent de Berlin ainsi que l’Orchestre philharmonique de Vienne, sous la direction de Rainer Honeck. En 2001 elle a fait des débuts en duo avec la pianiste de grande renommée Kathryn Stott. L’autres  collaborateurs et accompagnateurs fréquents, tous musiciens de distinction sont Steven Isserlis, Isabelle van Keulen, Martin Roscoe et Michael Collins. Plus récemment au Japon, Noriko est aux côtes de Evelyn Glennie pour une série de concerts d’une nouvelle oeuvre pour deux pianos et les percussions de Yoshihiro Kanno, qui a été commandée par Noriko. En novembre 2007 Noriko a fait ses débuts avec l’Orchestre National de Lille.

Ogawa juge régulièrement tous les concours prestigieux internationaux. Elle se consacre à l’enseignement et dirige acutuellement les études de piano à la Guildhall School of Music à Londres. Très sollicitée comme pédagogue, elle donne souvent des cours de maître aux conservatoires du monde entier, incluant en Australie, en L’Extrême-Orient et en Europe.

Noriko Ogawa, qui enregistre depuis l’année 1997 en exclusivité pour la compagnie BIS Records (étiquette suédoise), a plusieurs CD classiques à son actif. Elle enregistre au fil des ans plusieurs oeuvres, incluant Riverrun de Toru Takemitsu, deux concertos pour piano (concerto No 2 et 3) de Rachmaninov, les tableaux d’une exposition de Mussorgsky ainsi que l’intégrale des concertos pour piano de Rachmaninov. La musique de Tcherepnin et Saint-Saens est aussi présente dans la discographie de Noriko Ogawa. Elle enregistre le concerto en A mineur pour piano de Grieg avec l’Orchestre philharmonique de Bergen, dirigé par Ole Kristian Ruud ainsi que des oeuvres pour deux pianos de Delius et de Graham Fitkin avec l’accompagnateur et pianiste Kathryn Stott.  Ogawa achève l’enregistrement de l’intégrale des pièces pour un seul piano de Debussy, dont les volumes un et deux lui valent des accolades et des critiques favorables dans la presse musicale internationale. Son enregistrement le plus récent du troisième volume a été chaleureusement accueilli par la critique et la pianiste s’impose plus comme experte en Debussy. Les volumes deux et trois lui valent la prestigieuse accolade “Choix de la rédaction de Gramaphone Magazine” en Angleterre (en mars 2003 et en janvier 2006 respectivement).

Translations by Sarah Miller

Noriko Ogawa appears by arrangement with Hazard Chase Ltd

www.norikoogawa.com

Martin Jones - pianist

Martin Jones has been one of Britain’s most highly regarded solo pianists since first coming to international attention in 1968 when he received the Dame Myra Hess Award. The same year he made his London debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and his New York debut at Carnegie Hall, and ever since has been in demand for recitals and concerto performances on both sides of the Atlantic.

He is a prolific recording artist and his many discs for Nimbus Records include the complete solo piano works of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy, Grainger, Szymanowski (voted Best Instrumental Recording of 1996 by the Spanish magazine ‘CD Compact’) Stravinsky, Korngold and the sonatas of Alun Hoddinott. He has recently recorded several Spanish piano masters and Volume 2 of this series received the 2000 Classical Indie Award from the Association for Independent Music in the USA. The soundtrack of the film ‘Howards End’ features Martin Jones performing Grainger’s Bridal Lullaby and Mock Morris. He has also recorded Grainger’s Tribute to Foster conducted by John Eliot Gardiner for Philips, Richard Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto for ASV, a recital CD with horn player, David Pyatt, for Erato Disques, and Reger’s Clarinet Sonatas with Anthony Pike. The first in a series of CDs featuring Richard Rodney Bennett’s piano music has recently been released on the Metronome label. Nimbus has just released Gershwin transcriptions by Earl Wild, and he is currently recording major piano works by Hans Gal.

Martin Jones has performed as concerto soloist with many of the leading British orchestras, as well as in the USA and Russia, and toured Canada as soloist with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra. Performances include Shostakovich’s Concerto No 1 in Central and South America with the London Festival Orchestra, a regional tour playing Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Hallé Orchestra, the Britten Piano Concerto in St Petersburg, the Schoenberg Piano Concerto with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Scharwenka’s Piano Concerto No 1 in the USA, and Brahms Concerto No 1 with the Oman Symphony Orchestra. This season he has performance Mozart K491 with the London Festival Orchestra, and Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

His performance repertoire, as well as encompassing most of the standard works for piano, also includes unusual concertos such as the Busoni Concerto, which he performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Norman Del Mar. He has also championed the music of British composers and has performed concertos by Britten, Benjamin, Mathias, McCabe and Lambert. He gave the first performance of the revised version of Alun Hoddinott’s Third Concerto at the 1974 BBC Promenade Concerts, and recorded Hoddinott’s Second Concerto with Andrew Davis and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Decca.

Martin Jones has given recitals throughout Great Britain, and as well as regular broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, he has given recitals for Brussels Radio, RTE in Dublin, DeutschlandRadio in Berlin and ABC in Australia. In the USA he has served as jury member on a number of international piano competitions, and performed in New York, Washington, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and California. In Los Angeles he gave a recital as part of the 1994 UK/LA Celebration of British Arts, which was broadcast live on KUSC Radio. He gave the world premiere of Ravelled Threads by American composer, Wendy Carlos in New York. In 1996 he became the first major British artist to give a solo recital in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Recent highlights include a recital at the Adelaide Festival, a programme of Percy Grainger at the Eifeler Musiktage in Germany, and the complete Iberia of Albéniz at London’s South Bank Centre.

 

Martin Jones jouit d’une grande estime depuis 1968, lorsqu’il a attiré un renom international en gagnant le prix à la mémoire de Dame Myra Hess. La même année il a debuté à la Queen Elizabeth Hall à Londres et Carnegie Hall à New York, et depuis lors il joue régulièrement des concerts et des récitals aux deux côtés de l’Atlantique.

Il a beaucoup enregistré chez Nimbus Records, y compris les oeuvres complètes pour piano solo de Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy, Percy Grainger, Karol Szymanowski (nommé le meilleur enregistrement instrumental de l’année 1996 par le magazine espagnol ‘CD Compact’), Stravinsky, Korngold, et les sonates d’Alun Hoddinott. Récemment il a enregistré plusieurs maîtres de piano espagnols et le deuxième volume de cette série a reçu le prix Classical Indie de l’Association de Musique Indépendante en 2000. A la bande sonore du film ‘Howards End’ Martin Jones a joué la ‘Bridal Lullaby’ et ‘Mock Morris’ de Percy Grainger. Il a enregistré aussi des oeuvres pour piano de Grainger, Richard Addinsell, Max Reger, Richard Rodney Bennett, George Gershwin et Hans Gal.

Martin Jones a joué comme soliste avec plusieurs orchestres célèbres au Royaume-Uni,  aux Etats-Unis et en Russie, et il a fait une tournée au Canada avec le BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra. Il a interpreté le premier concerto de Shostakovich en Sud-Amérique, les concertos pour piano de Benjamin Britten à Saint-Pétersbourg et d’Arnold Schoenberg à Adelaide, et le premier concerto de Brahms en Oman. Cette saison il a joué le concerto de Mozart K491 avec le Festival Orchestra de Londres, et la ‘Rhapsodie sur un thème de Paganini’ de Rachmaninoff avec le Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Le répertoire de Martin Jones comprend la plupart des oeuvres classiques pour piano et embrasse aussi des concertos moins connus comme celui de Ferrucio Busoni, qu’il a joué avec le BBC Symphony Orchestra dirigé par Norman del Mar. Il s’est fait le champion de compositeurs britanniques en interpretant des concertos de Britten, Benjamin, Mathias, McCabe et Lambert. Il a joué le troisième concerto de Hoddinott dans un BBC Promenade Concert en 1974 et il a enregistré son deuxième concerto avec le Royal Philharmonic Orchestra sous le bâton d’Andrew Davis.

Martin Jones a donné des récitals partout en Grande-Bretagne et plusieurs émissions pour la BBC, ainsi qu’à la Radio Bruxelles, RTE à Dublin, Deutschland Radio à Berlin et ABC en Australie. Aux Etats-Unis il a été membre du jury pour plusieurs concours internationaux de piano, et il a joué à New York, Washington , Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin et Californie. A New York il a donné la première mondiale de ‘Ravelled Threads’, de l’américaine Wendy Carlos. Parmi ses engagements récents il a donné un récital au festival d’Adelaide, un programme de la musique de Percy Grainger en Allemagne et ‘Iberia’ d’Albeniz à Londres.

 

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