Forthcoming concerts

Friday 28 June 2013

BPSE Lunchtime Recital

Malcolm Troup, piano

Ernest Bloch: 'Clowns' (World Premiere)
Beethoven: Sonata Op.109,
Benjamin Britten: Holiday Diary op 5 (to mark Britten Centenary)


BPSE Lunchtime Recital

The concert is given in conjunction with the International Ernest Bloch Society (IEBS)

Tuesday 16 July 2013

BPSE Lunchtime Recital

Julian Jacobson

Beethoven

Sonata in E flat op.7
Sonata in E op 109

BPSE Lunchtime Recital

One of Britain's most creative pianists, Julian Jacobson is acclaimed for the vitality and insight he brings to his enormous repertoire ranging across all styles.
Born in Scotland, his father Maurice Jacobson had studied piano with Busoni while his mother, pianist and composer Margaret Lyell, had studied in Berlin with Else Krause, daughter of Liszt's pupil Martin Krause. Julian studied in London with Lamar Crowson (piano) and Arthur Benjamin (composition), publishing four songs by the age of nine. After studies at the Royal College of Music with John Barstow and Humphrey Searle he read Music at Queen's College, Oxford.
After further studies with Louis Kentner he gave his London debut at the Purcell Room in 1974 followed by his Wigmore Hall debut. During the 1980s he established himself as a fine duo and ensemble pianist. In 1992 he became Head of Keyboard Studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and in 1994 he embarked on his first cycle of the 32 Beethoven sonatas which he has now presented eight times, the last two in a single day (only the second pianist to attempt this), in aid of charity. He will repeat the Beethoven marathon at St Martin-in-the-Fields on October 15 2013, from 9:15 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Julian Jacobson has performed as soloist with leading international orchestras and conductors, in more than forty countries on five continents. He gave the UK premiere of Ligeti's Etudes Book One, subsequently broadcast for BBC Radio 3 (praised by the composer). Composers who have written for him include Robert Saxton, Simon Bainbridge, Benedict Mason, Philip Cashian, Daryl Runswick, Keith Tippett, Charles Camilleri and Robert Keeley. He has a large discography and compsitional oeuvre.
Julian Jacobson is currently Professor of piano and chamber music at the Royal College of Music. He was Artistic Director of the Paxos International Festival, Greece, from 1988 to 2004, is Artistic Director of 'Rencontres Musicales en Eygalieres'.

Friday 26 July 2013

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

Julian Jacobson and Mariko Brown - piano four hands


Bach-Kurtag: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit

Beethoven: Variations on a Theme of Count Waldstein, WoO 67

Debussy: Six Epigraphes Antiques

Beethoven: Grosse Fuge, op 134

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

Julian Jacobson and Mariko Brown's musical association dates back to the late 1990s, though it was only in 2010 that they decided to team together to explore the rich and varied repertoire for piano duet. Both composers as well as pianists, they have already enhanced this repertoire: Mariko's piece 'Travels Through a Mist of Chinese Mountains' (2012) has already received three performances, to great acclaim, and Julian's 'Tango Albertito' has been performed in France and England . They made their debut at the festival 'Rencontres Musicales en Eygalieres' in France in 2010, returning there in 2011 and 2012. In the UK , they have given concerts at Burgh House, Regent Hall at the 2011 Beethoven Society Summer Festival and at various London churches. Concerts in 2013 include Blackheath Hall, London and Fairfield Halls, Croydon, a Debussy project including the neglected ballet masterpiece 'Khamma' and 'Epigraphes Antiques' with live dance, further concerts in France and the premieres of Gary Carpenter's 'After Braque' and Julian's 'Palm Court Waltz' - a tribute to the late Sir Richard Rodney Bennett - in May. Their first recording, for the British Music Society's CD label, will be released later this year.

'Rhythmic steel and incisiveness which had us on the edge of our seats' (Music and Vision Daily)

'Debussy's delicate Epigraphes Antiques [were] played with a pellucid touch and perfect sound quality on Blackheath's Steinway' (Musical Pointers).

Monday 29 July 2013

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

Laura Moinian, cello & Camilla Li, piano

Beethoven: Sonata Op 5/2 in G minor
Grieg: cello sonata, op 36
Julian Jacobson: 'Valse mélancholique' for cello and piano
Faure: 'Papillon' op. 77

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

Wednesday 31 July 2013

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

John Paul Ekins, piano

Mozart: Fantasy in C Minor, K. 475

F. Liszt Cantique D'amour, S. 173/10

Beethoven: Sonata in C Major, Op. 53 'Waldstein'

F. Morel: Deuxieme Etude de Sonorite


BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

In great demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician, John Paul Ekins has given performances throughout the UK, and overseas, and has broadcast on the BBC, and on Romanian and Polish TV. In 2009 he graduated from the Royal College of Music with First Class Honours, and in the same year he was awarded the James Anthony Horne Scholarship by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study with Charles Owen, where he graduated with Master of Performance (Distinction) in 2011. He received a Music Education Award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund, and generous support from Making Music, The Concordia Foundation, The Razumovsky Trust and The Keyboard Charitable Trust.

He has participated in masterclasses with many renowned musicians and ensembles, such as Salvatore Accardo, the Brodsky String Quartet, Levon Chilingirian and the Chilingirian String Quartet, Peter Donohoe, Bernard Greenhouse, Leslie Howard, Joan Enric Lluna and Martino Tirimo. He is a past prize-winner in the Anglo-Czechoslovak Trust Chamber Music Competition, and recently formed The Cremona Piano Trio, with Michal Cwizewicz and Liubov Ulybysheva, and in early 2012 they won the Audience Prize in the final of the St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Music Competition.

As well as private teaching John Paul has also given workshops and masterclass-recitals with great success in the UK. He has taught at St. Paul's School, Barnes since 2013.

John Paul was particularly honoured to be presented to Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip at a Reception for Young Performers at Buckingham Palace in 2011.

More information on John Paul at www.jpekinspianist.com or Twitter @jpekinspianist.

Friday 2 August 2013

BPSE Regent Hall Beethoven Summer Festival 2013

Geoffrey Silver, violin
Alberto Portugheis, piano

Beethoven: Sonata no.4 in A minor, Op.23
Cesar Franck: Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano

For over two decades, Geoffrey Silver has been performing across the UK earning critical acclaim for his interpretations, and was described in the British press as 'a prodigious talent'.
London-born, Silver made his debut aged six in Bach's double violin concerto, becoming leader of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in his teens, working with a raft of international conductors and soloists such as Pierre Boulez and Jessye Norman. After a concerto debut with the Sibelius Concerto he made an acclaimed Royal Festival Hall debut in Saint-Saens 'Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso'; since when he has performed much of the standard and less well-known concerto literature. Silver has toured widely and collaborated with internationally recognized concert pianists including Alberto Portugheis and Eduardo Hubert from Argentina, and the St Petersburg trained Russian pianist, Anya Fadina. Forthcoming highlights include British composer Naresh Sohal's violin concerto, recordings with the Schubert Ensemble, and a Beethoven-Liszt series with the eminent pianist and musicologist, Leslie Howard.
Silver gained a Maths Degree from Imperial College, London and as a postgraduate scholar at the RAM studied with David Takeno, Emanuel Hurwitz and Howard Davis, participating in masterclasses by Zakhar Bron, Ida Haendel, Ruggiero Ricci and Dorothy Lay, amongst others.

The distinguished pianist and pedagogue Alberto Portugheis has been associated with the music of Beethoven throughout his career and especially since co-founding the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe, President Alfred Brendel, of which he is Vice-Chairman.
Born in La Plata, Argentina, to parents of Russian and Rumanian descent, Portugheis won First Prize at the 1964 Geneva 'Concours de Virtuosite', since when he embarked upon an international career, visiting nearly 50 countries. Apart from performing in recitals and chamber-music concerts, Portugheis appears as soloist with many major orchestras, the world over. Alberto Portugheis's acclaimed recordings include music by Chopin, Alfred Nieman, Ginastera, Khachaturian - with the LSO - Rachmaninov, Shostakovitch and Rossini, see a new release in 2013: a double CD with the Complete Piano Works by Spanish composer Elena Romero.
Portugheis's annual Masterclasses at Steinway Hall are now legendary and attract a wealth of talent from all over the world.
Like his colleague and compatriot DANIEL BARENBOIM, Portugheis is a very active Peace Campaigner, activity that has earned him a nomination to the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize, as a result of which he has written a very successful book, Dear Ahed, The Game of War and a Path to Peace.

Monday 5 August 2013

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

FRANCISCO FIERRO, Piano


Beethoven: Sonata Op.81a 'Les Adieux'

Fierro: Homage to Beethoven

Rachmaninov: Variations on a Theme by Corelli

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

Nominated for the Prince of Girona Prize for the Arts 2013, one of the most important Awards for a young musician in Spain, sponsored by the Botín Foundation (Banco de Santander), the 22 years old Spanish pianist Francisco Fierro is considered one of the great promises of the piano in Spain. Despite his age, he has already performed in several European countries and also in the United States. Soon he will be touring Latin America and will make a return visit to the United States. Francisco is also well known and respected as a great improviser, often improvising at concerts. A live CD of his improvisations, representing different periods in music history, will be recorded in the near future.

Wednesday 7 August 2013

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

James Brawn, piano

All Beethoven programme

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

Born in England in 1971, James Brawn studied piano in New Zealand from the age of seven and played Bartok on New Zealand TV. He continued studies in Melbourne, Australia with Margaret Schofield, Ronald Farren-Price, and Rita Reichman, gaining prizes at the Melbourne Eisteddfods and receiving from Yehudi Menuhin the Hephzibah Menuhin Memorial Scholarship. In 1987, he was a finalist in the ABC Young Performers Awards.

In 1988, he received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Frank Wibaut and Christopher Elton, and winning the Beethoven and 20th century prizes. He performed in master classes with Andras Schiff, Tamas Vasary, Stephen Kovacevich, Fou Tsong, Menahem Pressler, and members of the Amadeus and Chilingirian Quartets.

Aged 19, Brawn won the Keyboard Final of the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition resulting in many recitals across the UK including the QEH. From 1993-2001, he taught at the Kings College and St. Johns College choir schools in Cambridge, giving recitals with his wife, soprano Susan Brawn, and sister, oboist Victoria Brawn including the Cambridge Elgar Festival and the Purcell Room in London. In 2001, he moved to Melbourne, Australia to teach at Scotch College, appearing at the Melba Festival, and music societies throughout Victoria. Brawn recorded for RTHK Radio 4 in Hong Kong, ABC Classic FM, and 3MBS radio in Melbourne. He also co-founded the biennial Scotch College Piano Festival. Since 2010, Brawn has been based in the UK, living in the Cotswolds. He performs regular across the UK and in 2011-12 Brawn began to record the complete Beethoven piano sonatas at Potton Hall in East Anglia with the eminent producer Jeremy Hayes in April 2012. He signed with the American record label, MSR Classics, in September 2012. 'A Beethoven Odyssey' volume 1 is now available.

Friday 9 August 2013

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

BRUNO FERRARI, piano

Beethoven: Rondo op.51 no.2

Liszt: Rhapsody no.12

Scriabin: Sonata no.4

BPSE Regent Hall Summer Festival 2013

Tuesday 13 August 2013

BPSE Prizewinner Lunchtime Recital

Min Jung Baek, piano
1st Prize Winner of the 2012 Senior Intercollegiate Beethoven Piano Competition

Schumann: Abegg Variations Op.1
Chopin: Ballade No.1 in g minor, Op.23
L.V.Beethoven: Sonata No.32 in c minor, Op.111
Ravel: La Valse

The concert is accompanied by the Presentation of the Worshipful Company of Musicians Medal

BPSE Prizewinner Lunchtime Recital

The Winner of 2012 Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Competition, Korean pianist MinJung Baek began studying the piano at the age of four, entered her first competition at five and by eleven she had won fifty Korean national competitions. Later, she won top prizes at international piano competitions including 2005 Skokie Valley Young Artist Competition in USA(led her debut as a soloist in Chicago), 2009 Giuliano Pecar, 2012 Ernesto Falla, 2012 Concorso Nuovi Orizzonti, 2012 Jacque Samuel Piano Competition Recital award and 2006 Rachmaninoff Piano Competition, which provided her concerts playing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.1,No.2 & Paganini Rhapsody in one concert in Ukraine and in Italy in April, 2007 broadcast by Ukraine TV. Aged 10, she made her orchestral debut with Busan PO in Beethoven's Concerto No 1. Since then, she has performed extensively in USA, Europe, Russia and the Far East, including major London venues. MinJung has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2010-2013 Guildhall Artist Trust and 2007 Earl Wild's Teaching Fellowship by Ivory Classic. She has played at numerous music festivals including the 2005 TCU/Cliburn Piano institute in Fort worth, where she was filmed for a documentary about the pianist Menahem Pressler, and many appearances across Europe and the UK.
MinJung completed her Master of Performance with distinction under Ronan O'Hora and Martin Roscoe at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she won 2011 Beethoven Prize and is currently studying Artist Diploma programme as a Full scholarship student. She also completed the Artist Diploma at the famous Accademia Pianistica Internazionale, Italy with Leonid Margarius, a pupil of Regina Horowitz.
www.minjungbaek.com