News

Danza GayaI was so pleased to receive this lovely review from Textura for my new album with Hiro Takenouchi, Danza Gaya!

Thank you to everyone who came!Thank you so much to everyone who came to my recital yesterday at Wigmore Hall! It was a joy to be able to present Cyril Scott’s monumental First Piano Sonata alongside music of his contemporaries, especially to such a warm, receptive and enthusiastic audience. It was really touching too, to see so many wonderful friends there. A concert experience that I won’t get over for quite some time!

Accordion and Piano with Miloš MilivojevićIt was nice to hear that my Saint-Saëns, Guilmant and Franck album (on Nimbus) with Milos was featured on Radio Belgrade 3 recently! You can read the article here, and find out more about the release on my CD page.

My first performance of a masterpieceLast Saturday I had a great time playing Brahms’ 2nd Piano Concerto with my friends at the Colchester Symphony Orchestra - my first performance of this great work - and certainly not the last! I can’t wait to play it again!!

A lovely review for a sold-out concertLast Sunday I returned to Shrewsbury School, for a wonderful sold-out concert with my dear friends, the Carducci Quartet. I was really pleased to receive this lovely review from Simon Cousins!

Some dates for your diariesHappy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I’m feeling well-rested and looking forward to some fantastic concerts in 2024. Do let me know if you’re planning to come along - it would be great to see you there!

So pleased to see that Elias Parish Alvars has been featured on Composer of the Week, as part of their series, ‘Greatest Showstoppers’! If you didn’t catch the episode earlier this week, you can listen back until 26 Jan on BBC iPlayer. I really enjoyed getting to know his music with Clíodna Shanahan when we made our recording for Lyrita in 2021, and you can hear our recording of the ‘Grand Duo on Linda di Chamonix’ from c. 17m. It’s a funny, dramatic, virtuosic piece and I’d love to know what you think!

My first Hyperion recording available for streaming26 January 2024 will see the release on Spotify of my first album for Hyperion, of Roger Sacheverell Coke’s Piano Concertos. Recorded in 2016 with Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the project was truly a labour of love: as well as creating new scores and parts from Coke’s manuscripts, I also went on to do my PhD on the composer and made further recordings on SOMM and Lyrita.

One year on from a very memorable performanceI can’t believe it’s already been a year since our performance at the Highgate Festival 2022, raising money for Food Bank Aid. Ben Gilmore, Ashok Klouda and I performed Schubert’s glorious B flat trio, each movement of which was interspersed with readings about Schubert’s life and music, read impeccably by Rowan Atkinson CBE. You can watch a snippet from this performance below!

Cyril Scott's First Sonata in ContextCyril Scott was a pianist-composer with a strong link to Wigmore Hall. He premiered his First Sonata Op. 66 at Bechstein Hall on 17 May 1909. The programme for my Wigmore Hall recital on 3 February 2024 sets this large-scale 20th century piano sonata in the context of composers who influenced and were admired by Scott.

A new interview, delving into the background and music of this fascinating composer.I was delighted to talk to Presto Classical's Katherine Cooper about Carl Reinecke!

It was an honour to be included in Andrew McGregor's round-up of new releases!I've been so pleased with the reception of my new Hyperion album since its release on 6 Jan. You can hear the beautiful slow movement from Reinecke's first piano concerto on this broadcast, as well as some lovely comments from Andrew McGregor.

Conway Hall's bi-annual prize for composersConway Hall Sunday Concerts is pleased to invite young composers to submit a work for piano trio to The Clements Prize 2023. Up to 8 submissions will be selected, and will be performed by the Fidelio Trio at the final round in Conway Hall’s Main Hall at 6.30pm on 5 November 2023.

A chance to revisit Coke's Preludes on his 110th birthdayIt was very kind of the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Radio3 to broadcast my recording of Roger Sacheverell Coke's Preludes during the interval of their wonderful concert in Nottingham last night!

The return of Cervo Chamber Music after a long break!I'm so pleased to share the news that the programme for Cervo Chamber Music 2022 has been announced! Please visit my schedule page for more information.

Now available!A new recording, born as a natural 'lockdown project' for me and my dear friend Adrian Farmer, in whose home I lived for quite some time during covid-19! I feel very lucky to have made several new albums during this time and the opportunity to record these two masterpieces was very special indeed!

A new playlist for your delectation!Thanks so much to Nimbus Records for creating this new playlist, featuring some of my tracks from albums on their label as well as on Lyrita and SOMM.

Released on Lyrita this month!The music on this album dates from the composer’s later years, and are largely based on themes from his earlier successes. The inspiration for Holbrooke’s music was almost always literary; hence, the large number of symphonic poems and pieces with literary titles or subtitles in his work list.

With Martyn Brabbins and the BBC National Orchestra of WalesI'm so excited to have spent the last two days at BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff, making an eclectic new recording for Lyrita. The programme includes pieces for piano and small orchestra by Elizabeth Maconchy, Edmund Rubbra, Arthur Benjamin, Geoffrey Bush, Humphrey Searle and John Addison - and I was joined by the 'dream team' - Martyn Brabbins and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

A lovely catch-up to start the Bank Holiday weekendI had a lovely time on Saturday morning, chatting with violinist Fenella Humphreys about recording, performing, coronavirus and lots more! It’s such a pleasure to be able to share these insights with my Patreon supporters - you can find out more here >

A special concert in a beautiful hallThank you so much to everyone who tuned in to watch my live-streamed concert from Conway Hall yesterday! It was certainly sad to be in that beautiful hall without the audience, but I really enjoyed playing and it was so nice to receive lots of lovely messages afterwards! Hopefully it won't be long before we are able to welcome an audience again - in fact if all goes well, we'll be able to do just that for the final concert of our season, given by the Oculi Ensemble on 30 May. There are three more live-streamed concerts between now and then though, so please continue to support Conway Hall. It really helps!

The re-launch of an historic competitionNext year at Conway Hall, we are proud to announce the re-launch of The Clements Prize for Composers, which will appeal to young composers to write a new work for string trio and which will coincide with a special exhibition of scores from the Conway Hall Archive.

Talking about our new releaseTalking a little about 'Babar', the book that inspired it and what it was like to record it

Presenting a limited series of concerts via YouTube Live and - subject to government guidance - a physical audienceSimon's introduction to the season:

A new piece by Richard BlackfordIt was lovely to spend the day a few weeks ago with wonderful composer Richard Blackford, recording a beautiful new piece he wrote for Christmas.

Catching up on all the latest news!It was so fun to chat with David Taylor last week, about two recent recordings and lots of other news! David and I first met at the Ingenium Summer Academy some 8 years ago, and we also worked together on his Yorkshire Youth Sinfonia project. He has a really exciting career now as a music marketing entrepreneur, and I really enjoyed being part of his podcast.

Myaskovsky, Lyadov & Rimsky-KorsakovI spent two glorious days with cellist Raphael Wallfisch last week, recording Myaskovsky’s two cello sonatas along with shorter pieces by Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov for the German label, CPO. The disc will be released next year along with Raphael’s recording of Myaskovsky’s cello concerto.

A view on Dyson's piano musicIt is always a pleasure to approach a well-known composer from a new angle. I think it is reasonable to observe that the piano music of Sir George Dyson (1883-1964) has been overshadowed by his choral and orchestral works in concert and on recordings. Many of my musical colleagues were surprised to hear of the existence of any works for piano, let alone more than enough to occupy a full disc! The moment for a complete survey of Dyson’s piano works is long overdue and my own discovery of his music has been an exciting journey...