NEWS & EVENTS
This page includes both forthcoming and past events, as well as recent interviews. It also provides information about publications, compositions, and workshops. You will find details on adjudicating, presentations, reviews, as well as holiday and celebratory posts.
Favourite Books of 2025
Wishing all my readers a very happy festive season As the year draws to a close, I’m focusing on my favourite books of 2025. I’d like to highlight the following five books which I’ve really enjoyed reading. This is a rather random collection of fiction and non-fiction; some were published in 2025 whilst others are…
Pre-Christmas Cheer
It’s December already and we all know what that means: Christmas time, for those who celebrate. After a busy term, which, for me, finished yesterday, it’s good to have some time to reflect on the past few weeks and look forward to the festive break. The Play it again: PIANO Prep Book (Schott Music), which…
Play it again: PIANO Prep Book
The piano is an intoxicating instrument. Those who have played in their youth often harbour a desire to return to it later in life. Piano ‘returners’ make up an increasingly large cohort of amateur pianists, and whether younger or older, it’s usually fairly easy to pick up again from where you left off. Progress can…
Top Piano Practice Tips: An Interview
UK-based Marcel Zidani is a concert pianist, teacher, and composer. He runs a large Facebook group called Adult Piano Beginners (click here to join) which currently hosts over 44,000 members, and it was this group that proved the original inspiration for my own Facebook group, Adult Piano Returners (click here to join). Marcel is also…
Summer Coaching at the RAM, RSL Awards, and More
Today’s post is a ‘round-up’ of my work over the past couple of months. Book projects are coming to an end for this current year. I have two more to be published before 2026. The first is a beginners’ book for ensemble playing. This is (probably) the final book in my Snapchats duets & trios…
ANZCA Piano Exam Syllabus 2025-2027
ANZCA (Australian and New Zealand Cultural Arts Limited) are a music examination board popular across Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. Based in Australia, they have been operating since 1938. ANZCA offers comprehensive programmes for most instruments and this year they have just published a new piano syllabus. There are three syllabus…
The Art of Piano Education Awards and More…
April and May has been a busy time with some interesting work and the conclusion of projects which have been in the offing for a while. These have been satisfying and worthy endeavours and, as usual, I’ve loved my involvement with each one. During the last week of April I took a flight (on a…
Schott Student Edition: Scènes enfantines Op. 92 by Mélanie Bonis
This week marks the publication of my second volume highlighting the music of French late-Romantic composer Mélanie Bonis, or Mel-Bonis as she was often known. Book 1 was published in March and focuses on elementary pieces for children from the popular collection Album pour les tout-petits Op. 103, and you can find out more about…
Schott Student Edition: Album pour les tout-petits by Mélanie Bonis
I’ve been compiling and editing editions for the Schott student study series for a while and we have already published three volumes: click here to find out more. All my contributions to this series focus on highlighting music by female composers. I try to mix it up and combine the piano works of more well-known…
Chasm: a new recording by Maiko Mori
Just before lockdown I started writing several piano pieces for four pianist friends. There’s nothing I enjoy more than writing music for my fellow musicians because one can compose a ‘bespoke’ work specifically suited to their particular musical skills. All four pianists had heard some of my music performed during a concert held at a…
Music & Drama Education Expo 2025
I’m looking forward to the Music & Drama Education Expo in London next week. This two-day event is held every year and has been through several transformations since its inception twelve years ago. According to its website, the Expo consists of ‘a mix of practical workshops, CPD sessions, seminars and networking for music and drama…
Composer of the Month at TopMusic
2025 starts with a bang! During January, I’m ‘composer of the month’ at the TopMusic.co which is an educational organisation founded and run by Tim Topham, a music educator who I had the pleasure of meeting when I visited Australia last Summer. Earlier this week ten of my elementary piano pieces were published by TMS…