It’s been two years since Schott and I published our three-book series featuring music by women composers from over four centuries, Women Composers: A Graded Anthology for Piano. This publication has proved most popular, not only winning a Presto Music Award but, more importantly, reaching out to a new audience of pianists, whether they be…
Tag: Festivals and Competitions
A master class with Nikolai Lugansky
The Oxford Piano Festival, held annually in Oxford, UK, is one of the few educational courses to film almost every session during their festival, and this allows us to hear a wealth of extremely interesting piano classes given by renowned pianists, all at our fingers tips on YouTube. Russian pianist Nikolai Luganksy has been a…
International Katherine Mansfield 100 Festival 2023
Katherine Mansfield (1888 – 1923) is widely considered to be one of New Zealand’s most important modernist writers. Born and raised near Wellington, her father, Sir Harold Beauchamp, was the chairman of the Bank of New Zealand, her grandfather was a parliamentary electorate, and her cousin, Countess Elizabeth von Arnim, was also a well-known author….
A Masterclass with Stephen Kovacevich
It’s time for a masterclass and today’s public lesson was filmed at the Oxford Piano Festival last year. This recording was streamed live on August 4th and the video contains the entire class, which runs nearly three and a half hours in length. However, if like me, you’re a fan of observing piano lessons, you…
Guildhall Young Artists Online – Preparing For Conservatoire Entry: A New Course
From September 2023, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London is offering an innovative new course for students. This advanced two-year online course is aimed at international musicians who are interested in studying for a degree at the Guildhall School or at any other UK music conservatoire. Students, who are of post Grade…
Judging a Piano Festival in Thailand
During the past year I’ve been teaching at Royal Holloway, which is part of the University of London. Employed as an external faculty lecturer, I’ve been working with undergraduate and postgraduate students. Every Monday I took the bus to the campus, which isn’t far away from where I live in Windsor, Berkshire. One morning, during…
A masterclass with Elisabeth Leonskaja
A very Happy Easter to all who celebrate today. I hope you have time to relax and rejuvinate during this holiday period. I haven’t posted a masterclass for a while and I’ve missed them! Today’s class was recorded at the Oxford Piano Festival and was streamed live on July 31st 2022. Founded in 1999, this…
The 4th Montecatini International Piano Competition
Over the past few years, I have been fortunate to be a jury member at several international piano competitions. Most of these have been online, which, thanks to the pandemic, has started a new ‘trend’. There are clearly some disadvantages to hearing young pianists perform in this situation regarding sound and instrument quality, but, generally,…
G. Henle Verlag Piano Competition 2022
Those who teach or play the piano will know the significance of G. Henle Verlag. Henle is a world-leading publishing house focusing on urtext editions, that is, editions which solely remain true to the composer’s intentions. Based in Munich, Germany, this publishing house will be celebrating its 75th Anniversary next year, so do keep an…
Easter Master Class with Leif Ove Andsnes
A very Happy Easter to those who celebrate. I hope that you are able to rest, relax and recharge during this holiday break. This week’s post features the following master class with Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. The class was recorded on September 3rd 2021 at the Riga Jurmala Academy and features student Ilana Lode,…
Melanie Spanswick 