Birmingham plays host to five-day international piano festival
A five-day celebration of the piano is to take place at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in a week of competition, collaboration and artistry.
The Birmingham International Piano Festival, taking place from 14 to18 June, will feature many events and concerts, including the long-established competition where 20 young people will compete.
Opening the Festival is a free Community Piano Day (Sunday 14 June) filled with guest artist recitals and masterclasses, and paid participant opportunities to enjoy a 30-minute one-to-one lesson.
It also marks the start of the Birmingham International Piano Competition with the first four 50-minute Young Artists’ Recitals.
Over the five Festival days, distinguished jurors Professor Shuhua Chen (China), Professor Klaus Sticken (Austria), Pascal Nemirovski (France) and John Thwaites (UK) will hear twenty recitals from some of the most well-known names in the younger generation of prize-winning global talents, as well as very young newly-emergent artists.
2016 winner Domonkos Csabay also returns to give a guest recital and will receive an Honorary RBC Award.
A celebrity masterclass and concert by the pianist Sir Stephen Hough (pictured), whose programme on Thursday 18 June (7pm) includes Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata and Schumann’s Carnaval, is set to be a key highlight.
It is also packed with special guest recitals and public masterclasses by leading national and international tutors including Roman Kosyakov, Daniel Browell, Karl-Heinz Simon, Andreas Frölich, Wu Chao, Xun Pan and Simon Nicholls.
Professor John Thwaites, head of Keyboard Studies, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, said: “An acoustic solo piano recital vivifies some of the greatest music ever written in an unmediated stream of consciousness from the hands of a single interpreter.
“The pianist speaks directly to the hearts of his or her audience. This festival offers the chance to understand the preparation and artistic thought processes that inform interpretation as some of the greatest pedagogues on the planet share their secrets.
“It also offers the glamour and excitement of hearing the very best of the next generation of pianists.
“I urge you to explore who we have coming and to support them by offering a very special Birmingham audience to them. I also invite you all to take part in Sunday's Community Day."
