Mark Simpson’s Nachtstück video
A piece we’ve performed many times, and finally recorded:
A piece we’ve performed many times, and finally recorded:
Very happy to have recorded Will Eaves’s piano pieces that feature in his forthcoming memoir, The Point of Distraction, published by Harper Collins / TLS. They’re wonderful pieces, full of colour, subtlety and character. Some are humorous, others intimate and expressive. The book will link to these recordings, and they will also form part of […]
A track from a series of recordings I made with wonderful cellist Johannes Moser last summer for Platoon Records (an imprint of Apple Music) was released earlier this week – take a listen here!
I wrote this piece in 2022, during a series of recitals with Ben at major halls around Europe. These concerts were extremely important to both of us, and the musical experiences we had onstage left a lasting imprint on me. They also opened my mind and ears to the extraordinary tonal and expressive possibilities of […]
Callum Smart and I have a new disc out called Transatlantic, with Orchid Classics. Lockdown played its part in presenting us with the time finalise the programme, rehearse and record, though we’d already been talking about the project for some time. Callum wrote the following, which eloquently sums up the repertoire choices: “This album is […]
I’m thrilled to be joining the Keyboard Faculty at the Royal College of Music from this academic year as a Piano Professor. Teaching has been a big part of what I do for many years now, and I couldn’t be happier to be expanding this further at such a marvellous institution as the RCM.
My recording of Marvin Wolfthal’s Lulu Fantasy, with score:
Posts for the Tunnell Trust blog that Savitri and I were asked to write during our tour in Scotland: Day 1: Dundee Chamber Music From Richard: The sensible thing to do might have been to play the same programme five nights in a row, but for our Tunnell Trust tour this week we decided to […]
Gershwin Concerto with Kensington Symphony Orchesta conducted by Russell Keable at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London: Review from Brian Barford for Classical Source:
After my concert the previous day of pieces by Eric Wubbels, Michael Cutting, Naomi Pinnock and Georg Friedrich Haas, I played as part of one of what Music on Main call their “kitchen parties”, at their office space in Vancouver. Music by Scarlatti, Ravel and Mark Simpson:
A recording of the chamber music of Erika Fox is on the way from NMC Recordings, with Goldfield Ensemble. Erika was born in Vienna in 1936 and came to England as a war refugee. I had a terrific time getting to know Erika and her music, and was bowled over by the snippets I heard […]
I’m recently back from my third trip to China, this time with violinist Savitri Grier. I first toured China in March 2017 and have now given 22 concerts there. All but one of these has been in a different city, and in the case of the one hall I had been to before, I only […]
After playing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in the carpark in Peckham last year, Kate Whitley and I devised an expanded piano duet programme for our concert at En Blanc Et Noir – a magical outdoor festival in the village of Lagrasse, France – this summer. En Blanc Et Noir photos by Barry Lewis Alongside the […]
Videos from recital at Wigmore Hall with Savitri Grier on 6 March 2018:
As part of the city’s Debussy Festival, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group presented a series of events focussed on Debussy and his legacy. For ‘Debussy’s Heirs’ (in December 2017) I joined Stephan Meier, Julian Anderson and Paul Griffiths at the CBSO Centre for an event looking at how Debussy’s music influenced composers up to the present […]
Next season Savitri Grier and I will play all ten Beethoven sonatas for piano and violin, over five concerts on tour in Scotland (6-10 March 2019). Each recital includes two sonatas, and will also feature pieces by Georges Enescu. We felt we needed something more spacious and yet equally vivid to complement the Beethoven, and […]
Livestream of recital with Ian Buckle, as part of Pixels Ensemble’s Debussy Weekend at Leeds University. Available on demand. Debussy : Six épigraphes antiques Grainger : “In a Nutshell” Suite Debussy : En blanc et noir
From the BBC Radio 3 studio on ‘In Tune’ with Vadim Gluzman, who was in London to play with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican: During the interview Vadim explained how the Stradivari he plays previously belonged to Leopold Auer, who taught Jascha Heifitz and Nathan Milstein (amongst other greats) – an auspicious heritage… […]
Kate Whitley and I are very pleased to have won the eleventh Yvar Mikhashoff Trust Pianist / Composer Commissioning Project Award. Kate will be writing me a major new work for the 2018/19 season, which I will premiere at the City University concert series. Kate and I sometimes play together in piano duo or duet, […]
Photos from Little Missenden Festival 2017 with Mark Simpson, including premiere of Mark Bowden’s The Breaking Wheel, which he wrote for us. Photos © Robert Piwko.
Peter Moore and I have been playing a lot together recently, including on tour in China and Columbia. We also filmed this short piece for Classic FM, which they shared on Facebook. 1.1 million views and counting…
Interview with the Ribble Valley International Piano Week ahead of their 30th anniversary season here.
I was recently involved in what turned out to be for me a very special event at Bath Festival focussed on Madeleine Thien‘s wonderful book Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which has been the recipient of numerous awards as well as shortlisted for the Man Booker and Bailey’s Prizes. I played excerpts from Bach’s Goldberg Variations – which feature […]
Each year Making Music promote a handful of artists in their Selected Artists brochure, and I’m delighted to be among those selected for the 2018-19 season after being heard in recital earlier this year. Promoters affiliated with Making Music get special rates on booking, and this year – for the first time – can claim a contribution […]
Some photos from my tour of China last month. I gave ten recitals, in Shoaxing, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Taizhou and Suzhou, and spent some time in Shanghai. My wife was able to travel with me, and this was the first time in China for both of us. Very much enjoyed exploring the cities, […]
I was in the studio again recently to film more pieces and tutorials for the Tido Music iPad app. The new videos – works by CPE Bach, JS Bach, Brahms, Haydn and Hensel – will be released in the coming months. In other Tido news, there was an extended piece on the app and its founder, […]
Livestream of recital with Savitri Grier from Clothworkers’ Hall, Leeds University. Also available on demand. Mozart : Sonata for piano and violin in B flat, K454 Brahms : Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, op.108
from the Tido Music app:
The Royal Philharmonic Society and BBC Radio 3 put on a weekend of chamber music at The Venue in Leeds College of Music. Peter Moore and I played a lunchtime concert on 19 November, and Mark Simpson and I were asked to stand in last-minute for Annelien Van Wauwe and Nino Gvetadze (who were unable […]
Videos from my recital at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2015: Tristan Murail : La Mandragore Michael Cutting : This Is Not A Faux Wood Keyboard
Following my recital in the opening weekend of the 2015 festival, HCMF have invited me back for the closing weekend in 2016. My programme this year includes the world premiere of Michael Cutting’s I AM A STRANGE LOOP V for Fender Rhodes & tape machines, the UK premiere of Eric Wubbels’s Psychomechanochronometer, Chaya Czernowin’s fardanceCLOSE, […]
As part of their 70th birthday celebrations, Radio 3 (in partnership with Sound and Music) are hosting Matthew Kaner as their Embedded Composer, playing his music regularly and inviting him to talk about new music on various shows. For the 70 days of the residency, Matthew has written 10 new pieces, each of which is played […]
Building on the short piece for Fender Rhodes & delay pedal Michael wrote for me to play at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2015, for my recital there this year he is writing me a much bigger piece, this time for the Rhodes & tape machines. We are extremely grateful to the Britten-Pears Foundation for supporting this commission. Here’s Michael’s […]
Mark Simpson and I are giving a series of concerts in the UK featuring highlights of the clarinet & piano repertoire both old and new, including both Brahms Sonatas and music by Schumann, Weber, Julian Anderson and Mark Simpson. 18 October : Yamaha Music London 20 October : Aberdeen Citadel (also broadcast Radio 3) 22 October […]
At this year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival I’ll give the UK premiere of American composer Eric Wubbels’s Psychomechanochronometer. I became interested in Wubbels’s music through the Wet Ink Ensemble, of […]
The Tido Music app launched last week and is now available through the iTunes Store. At its core, Tido Music is a platform for downloading and reading sheet music on iPad, but the app already also offers content and tools that take it far beyond this. I’ve been involved with the Piano Masterworks project, which is in collaboration […]
This summer Multi-Story ran a chamber music series in the Hay Bale Auditorium at Bold Tendencies (the transformed multi-storey car park in Peckham), alongside their big orchestral projects in the larger space. The main focus of the concerts I was involved with was the Bartók Sonata for two pianos and percussion – with Kate Whitley, Jude Carlton and Elsa […]
Peter Moore and I played Erroll Garner’s Misty for Proms Extra, presented by Katie Derham and broadcast on BBC 2 last Saturday. It’s here on iPlayer until 19 September, and in the BBC Store thereafter (Episode 5). We’re at the end, c.35mins in.
Some photos from concerts with Callum Smart this March playing Mozart Sonata K378, James MacMillan After the Tryst, Poulenc Sonata and Richard Strauss Violin Sonata. We had several dates in the UK, culminating in Wigmore Hall, then went to Paris for the Auditorium du Louvre and to Berlin for the Konzerthaus.
Richard Greenan (of Kit Records) came round to my flat and we talked about music and I played a bit. He made this sound collage for NTS Radio using that recording, recordings of other works by the composers we discussed (Matthew Kaner, Mark Simpson, Naomi Pinnock and Francisco Coll) and field recordings from his archives.
I was recently invited to be on the jury for the Large-Scale Composition section of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. The task proved to be both immense – listening to around 24 hours of music – and highly rewarding, in that it was an ideal snapshot of the music being premiered in 2015. It was also […]
La Voix, my new CD with violinist Callum Smart, is out now on Orchid Classics. Here’s our introduction to the repertoire: The starting point for the disc was French music for violin and piano, but a theme that emerged as we rehearsed and explored these works was that of the voice. As such, we decided […]
Michael Cutting‘s This Is Not A Faux Wood Keyboard is probably the most unusual piece I’ve had written for me so far, and it had an interesting way of coming into being too. A year or so ago I spotted a photo Michael posted on Facebook (below) of an instrument he’d bought himself, a Fender Rhodes […]
from Grieg Piano Concerto with Haffner Orchestra in Lancaster University’s Great Hall:
photos © Brian Slater
As part of the Philip Langridge Mentoring Scheme, through which I was mentored by Rolf Hind, the Royal Philharmonic Society were able to commission a new piece for me. I took the opportunity to ask Naomi Pinnock to write me something. I’d wanted to ask her for a solo piano piece since hearing her arresting, […]
I’m delighted to be giving the world premiere of Francisco Coll’s Vestiges [2012] at hcmf// this year. Here’s my programme note: […]
The Radio 3 In Tune interview and live performance is available to listen here on iPlayer for the next 30 days. I played the Mazurka from Matt Kaner’s Dance Suite, and three movements from Bach’s Partita No.4. Sean Rafferty interviewed both Matt and me.
On 3 November we had our biggest New Dots event so far – an evening concert at King’s Place showcasing four new pieces by composer-filmmaker pairs plus a new work by Dutch composer Jan Vriend, performed by Ensemble Matisse. We called it Interference Patterns. The idea behind the project was to have composers and filmmakers working together on equal footing from […]
Talking about being on the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Philip Langridge Mentoring Scheme with Rolf Hind, and Ghosts & Mirrors.
Delighted to feature in the latest edition of Livenotes Magazine, which focuses on live music in West Yorkshire, ahead of my recital in Leeds later this year. Download the full magazine by clicking here!
Filmed by SKY for a documentary on Mark’s The Immortalisation Commission.
Delighted to feature on this disc from NMC, Dinosaur, which showcases the music of composer Ben Foskett and will be released 23 June. The works included are: Five Night Pieces (Richard Uttley, piano) Hornet II (Mark van de Wiel, clarinet; London Sinfonietta; Geoffrey Paterson, conductor) From Trumpet (Hallé; Nicholas Collon, conductor) On From Four (Psappha; […]
Review of my recital in Cheltenham, by Ben Easey for the Gloustershire Echo: Meticulously positioning himself at the foot of the marvellous Steinways grand piano, youthful talent Richard Uttley began his concerto to the setting of Cheltenham’s Pittville Pump Room. Under the enchanting light of a chandelier, Uttley poured his passion for the classical genre into […]
I’m delighted to announce a new commission for solo piano from Matthew Kaner. We’ve been talking about this new piece for months and have now got all the funding together, so I’m very excited that Matt can start work on it. His music is colourful, intricate and rich; as such his first big piano piece […]
Sky Arts have broadcast this feature on Mark’s project The Immortalisation Commission, which he’s working on through his Sky Arts Academy Scholarship. I’m on piano for Mark’s Echoes & Embers (clarinet & piano) and Barkham Fantasy (solo piano). We filmed in the beautiful Caroline Gardens Chapel (home of Asylum) in Peckham – a really atmospheric […]
The piano duo pieces (birthday pieces for Hans Werner Henze and Oliver Knussen) Huw Watkins and I played in a BBC concert at Maida Vale were broadcast yesterday on Radio 3 as part of the Hear and Now programme. Presented by Tom Service in conversation with Oliver Knussen. Listen here!
I interviewed Ed for the New Dots blog. You can read the full post here. It proved to be a very satisfying thing to do, and I was able to ask many of the questions I had about what it’s like being a composer today and about Ed’s music. I’m grateful for Ed’s full and […]
Had a nice time recently at the Glasgow Short Film Festival giving the premiere of Dobrinka Tabakova and Ruth Paxton’s new collaboration PULSE, commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society for the PRS New Music Biennial. The work is for gamelan, percussion and piano duet, with Ruth’s film projected live. The concert also featured various chamber […]
Just back from a great time at this festival, which is part of Music for Galway. As well as the Vaughan-Williams Piano Quintet (an early work of his I did not know, but which turns out to be full of great tunes and passion), I played Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in the piano 4-hands […]