Biography |
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She
gave her first concerto performance in Edinburgh at the
age of 11. After reading Music at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, she
studied at the Royal College of Music under Kendall Taylor and Geoffrey
Parsons. More recent studies have been with Joyce Rathbone. For
ten years she was pianist of the award-winning group Tapestry.
Her other ensembles include Onyx (clarinet, 'cello and
piano) and the Giovanni Piano Trio. Highlights of recent seasons have
included trio concerts with former BBC Young Musicians of the Year David
Pyatt and Rafal Zambrzycki-Payne, recitals with violinists Madeleine
Mitchell and Gina McCormack and the complete Beethoven 'cello sonatas
with Sebastian Comberti. Her recital programme with Stephen
Stirling, The Romantic French Horn, has proved a popular favourite, as has
her Two Piano Duo KDKDK with
Kirsteen Davidson Kelly, performing Holst’s The Planets and
Stravinsky’s Rite
of Spring. Other recent
projects include performing late Beethoven alongside J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations and the commissioning of three new extended
settings for mezzo and piano of the poetry of Friedrich Rückert. Her
groundbreaking enterprise with Alison Smart of the BBC Singers, New French Song, has
involved working with twenty of Britain’s leading composers, and has
resulted in the creation of a whole new song recital repertoire for the
21st century. With
‘cellist Veronica Henderson, who has been a duo partner since their
childhood together in Edinburgh, she is currently giving recitals
featuring music by Chopin and Schumann, celebrating both composers’
bicentenaries this year. She has
featured in three Piano Magazine symposiums,
discussing J.S. Bach, British piano music and issues relating to
women pianists of today. As the
commissioner of new works for solo piano and for ensembles she has
performed numerous premières on BBC Radio 3 and on television, as well
as discussing the rôle of song accompanist in today’s musical
society. Tracks from her CDs have often been featured on BBC radio
programmes, including Night Waves, Composer of the Week, In
Tune, Midnight Oil and Private Passions. Her debut solo album is a highly
acclaimed recording of the complete Toccatas
of J.S.Bach. Her many CD recordings with singers have also been
highly praised. Future recording projects include Scotland
in Lieder, the songs of
Greek-Cypriot composer Cilia
Petridou and New
Rückert Lieder. February 2010 |