A Carnival of Pianos
14 October 2016, 10:00 - 16:30
Concert
- Professor Nicholas Marston (Speaker)
- Stuart Jackson (Tenor)
- Sholto Kynoch (Pianist)
- Tim Horton (Pianist)
- Maki Sekiya (Pianist)
- Samson Tsoy (Pianist)
- Alasdair Beatson (Pianist)
- Daniel Tong (Pianist)
The Schumann Project gets off to a thrilling start, meeting the composer as he takes his first confident steps. Aside from a handful of early songs, Schumann devoted himself exclusively to piano music before the 1840 outpouring of song. Some outstanding pianists explore this output, reflecting his single-minded and sometimes feverish approach, and setting the scene for the Festival in various central Oxford venues.
After the introductory talk and concert, each event lasts no more than 30 minutes, allowing a further half hour to make your way to the next venue. There is a one-hour break for lunch.
SCHEDULE (click on titles for further information):
10am-10.30am - Holywell Music Room
An introduction to Robert Schumann's piano music, given by Professor Nicholas Marston, Fellow in Music at King's College, Cambridge.
10.30am-11am - Holywell Music Room
11.30am-12pm - New College Ante-Chapel
Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 11, performed by Tim Horton
12.30pm-1pm - Holywell Music Room
Études Symphoniques, Op. 13, performed by Maki Sekiya
1pm-2pm Lunch
2pm-2.30pm - Holywell Music Room
Kreisleriana, Op. 16, performed by Samson Tsoy
3pm-3.30pm - Sheldonian Theatre
Carnaval, Op. 9, performed by Alasdair Beatson
4pm- 4.30pm - Balliol College Hall
Faschingsschwank aus wien, Op. 26, performed by Daniel Tong
Professor Nicholas Marston
Professor Nicholas Marston
Speaker
Nicholas Marston is Professor of Music Theory and Analysis in the Faculty of Music; he is also Vice-Provost, Praelector, and Director of Studies in Music of King’s College. Prospective undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to contact him at any time. I came up to Cambridge in 1977, as a Choral Exhibitioner at Corpus Christi College; prior to that I’d been educated at a grammar school in Penzance, Cornwall. On graduation, I began a Ph. D. dissertation on the sketches for Beethoven’s op. 109 piano sonata (a revis... Read Full Biography
Stuart Jackson
Stuart Jackson
Tenor
Stuart was a choral scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, studying Biological Sciences, before completing his training at the Royal Academy of Music in 2013 where he studied with Ryland Davies. In 2011, aged 25 and the youngest finalist, Stuart won second prize at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and as a keen recitalist, has appeared at Wigmore Hall, Kings Place and St John’s Smith Square, London and at Oxford's Holywell Room. Stuart was a Jerwood Young Artist at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2013, singing in a n... Read Full Biography
Sholto Kynoch
Sholto Kynoch
Pianist
Sholto Kynoch is a sought-after pianist who specialises in chamber music and song accompaniment. In addition to a busy performance schedule and a fast-growing discography, he is the founder and director of the Oxford Lieder Festival, the UK’s most renowned song festival, which recently won a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award. In recent years he has appeared at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the Berliner Konzerthaus, the Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, the Opéra de Lille... Read Full Biography
Tim Horton
Tim Horton
Pianist
Tim Horton studied at Chetham’s School of Music with Charles Hopkins and Heather Slade-Lipkin. He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1995. In the same year he replaced Alfred Brendel at short notice in two performances of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and the Royal Festival Hall, London. Since then he has played with the RLPO, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Trondheim Symphony Or... Read Full Biography
Maki Sekiya
Maki Sekiya
Pianist
Born in Tokyo, Maki Sekiya started piano lessons at the age of 4. Maki’s public career began when she was 10 years old and she appeared on Japanese television; later that year she performed in several of the biggest halls in Tokyo. When she was 11 years old, Maki and her family moved to London and she won a scholarship to the prestigious Purcell School of Music in Hertfordshire. She was described then by the London Evening Standard as “the piano prodigy of tremendous inner rhythm and vitality”. As a teenager, Maki performed... Read Full Biography
Samson Tsoy
Samson Tsoy
Pianist
"Extremely impressive" - ConcertoNet "Tsoy sparkled with cut-diamond brilliance..." – Arts Desk “Ferocious temperament, brilliant virtuosity and poetic soul…” - The Russian Musician Kazakh-born pianist SAMSON TSOY has been described as "the most promising" (BBC Music Magazine). In 2012, he has been named Laureate of the Santander International Piano Competition Paloma O'Shea and attracted attention of legendary pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja. A year later, he w... Read Full Biography
Alasdair Beatson
Alasdair Beatson
Pianist
Pianist Alasdair Beatson is highly regarded as a distinctive and vibrant musician. Recent and forthcoming highlights include a sixth solo Wigmore Recital, performances of the complete Beethoven cello sonatas with Pieter Wispelwey, and collaborations with such artists as Adrian Brendel, Philippe Graffin, Anthony Marwood, Alexander Melnikov, the Nash Ensemble and the Doric String Quartet. A new CD released on Claves features Mozart and Stravinsky works for violin and piano with Swiss violinist Esther Hoppe, and joins a solo piano discography... Read Full Biography
Daniel Tong
Daniel Tong
Pianist
"An extraordinarily sympathetic Schubertian with his crystalline sonority and wonderful tiny rubatos that release avenues of expression even in the simpler moments." (Gramophone) Daniel Tong was born in Cornwall and studied in London. His musical life is spent performing as soloist and chamber musician, as well as directing two chamber music festivals, teaching and occasionally writing. He released his first solo CD of works by Schubert for the Quartz label in 2012. He also recorded short solo works by Frank Bridge for Dutton ... Read Full BiographyThis event is part of a series:
The Schumann Project
The Schumann Project: 14-29 October 2016 The fifteenth Oxford Lieder Festival will be the Schumann Project, a unique survey of Schumann's complete songs. The Schumann Project will explore Schumann's life and times, his friends and contemporaries, his influences and his legacies, and his literary and artistic interests. This two-week feast of song will feature Oxford Lieder's trad...