Here you can read about fabulous pianists that i work regularly with:
Pavel Timofeevsky
Pianist and composer, Pavel Timofeyevsky, was born in Russia and educated in England, graduated with distinction as Master of Arts from the Royal Academy of Music, London. Solo and chamber music recitals, as well as concerto performances with orchestras has brought him to nearly all major concert venues in UK; these include the prestigious Wigmore Hall, as well as the Royal Festival and Queen Elizabeth Halls in London. Concert tours, along with television and radio appearances in other parts of the world include Russia, France, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus, South Africa and India. Pavel is the recipient of several prestigious British music awards, scholarships and national competition prizes: these include the Musicians Benevolent Fund Award, the 2007 Myra Hess Award, and the Philharmonia Orchestra Martin Musical Scholarship for piano, as well as winning the BBC/Guardian Young Composer of the Year award for composition.
Having made London his home and professional stomping ground, Pavel is highly sought after as a solo performer and a chamber music partner, collaborating with some of world's finest musicians. A keen and eloquent speaker, Pavel enjoys giving lecture- recitals and has his own regular lecture-concert series for the Kensington Music Society. As a prominent member of the Yehudi Menuhin's Live Music Now scheme, Pavel gave concerts, and led workshops in a variety of community venues across the United Kingdom: these included hospitals, prisons and schools for children with learning and behavioural difficulties. Additionally, Pavel directs a West London Music School Symphony Orchestra. In July 2014, under his baton, the orchestra has performed a world premier of Pavel's orchestral composition at the Cadogan Hall, London.
Pavel's passion for film has led him to work in that field too. He recorded the soundtrack and starred in the US documentary Tchaikovsky (US Bioghraphy channel) and has composed music for several films, including the critically acclaimed “Le fin de la belle époque”documentary for Russian television. Most recently he created a soundtrack for Russia's oldest Animated film studio Souyzmultfilm.
A fervent advocate of contemporary music, Pavel has given many premieres of fellow composers works and has recorded an album called ISLAS of chamber music by cult British composer Ian Stewart for the music-chamber label in 2011. He continued this collaboration with music-chamber by recording an album of works for viola and piano with violist Katya Lazareva, which was released in 2014. Highly sought after as a soloist and chamber music partner, Pavel continues to collaborate with orchestras and to tour extensively with recitals across the UK and abroad, making regular appearances on the British music festival scene. Solo concerts next season include recital tours of Switzerland and Kenya as well as return to the USA.
2014-2015 season highlights included Pavel making his US and Italian debuts with solo recitals at the prestigious Merkin Concert Hall in New York, and Basicila San Miniato Al Monte in Florence respectively. In March 2015, Pavel joined violinist Irmina Trynkos on a two week concert tour of China. Other highlights included a highly successful collaboration with the Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra in performance of Ravel's piano concerto and a debut performance at the Latvian Music Academy in Riga, Latvia.
Joseph Havlat
Joseph Havlat was born in Hobart, Australia, and has been studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Prof. Joanna MacGregor since 2012. Joseph has performed around the UK and in Europe, America and Australia as a soloist and as part of chamber groups and orchestras, most notably in Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Perth Concert Hall, as well as at Aldeburgh and Dartington music festivals. He is a keen sock enthusiast and chamber musician, performing frequently with multiple groups - Tritium (clarinet) trio, Trio Derazey and Duo Ex Libris. He is passionate about contemporary music and is a founding member and artistic director of contemporary music collective Ensemble x.y. He is also an avid composer, having written for the aforementioned ensembles, among others. Upcoming projects include performances of concertos by Finnissy and Ligeti, and a tour of Japan with the LSO Percussion Ensemble playing music by John Adams and Steve Reich.
Viv McLean
Winner of the First Prize at the 2002 Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona, Viv McLean has performed at all the major venues in the UK as well as throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA.
Viv’s concerto work includes appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva, Orchestra of the Swan, London Concert Orchestra, Scottish Concert Orchestra, Northern Chamber Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra.
Recent concerto highlights include Mozart K. 467 with the English Chamber Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, Grieg with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Barbican, a tour of the USA with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing Gershwin, Rachmaninov’s 3rd Concerto with the RPO in Cambridge, Gershwin, Bernstein, de Falla and Ravel with the Hallé at the Bridgewater Hall, The Sage Gateshead and other venues in the North of England, and Beethoven's 5th Concerto with the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall. Future plans include a tour in 2018 with the London Concert Orchestra where Viv will be playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Symphony Hall, Bridgewater Hall, St David’s Hall Cardiff, Philharmonic Hall Liverpool and Leicester’s De Montfort Hall.
Viv has performed chamber music with leading groups such as the Adderbury Ensemble, Ysaye String Quartet, the Sacconi String Quartet, members of the Allegri and Tippett String Quartets, Ensemble 360, the Galliard Wind Ensemble, the Bristol Ensemble and the Leopold String Trio and has collaborated with musicians such as Natalie Clein, Marianne Thorsen, Daniel Hope, Lawrence Power, Matthew Sharp, Kate Gould, Guy Johnston, Alena Walentin Lugovkina, Sarah Gabriel, Richard Dubugnon, David Le Page, Ofer Falk, Wayne Marshall, Christopher Warren-Green, Owain Arwell Hughes, Philip Hesketh, Christopher George, David Charles Abell, Carl Davis and Marvin Hamlisch.
Viv McLean has performed at festivals including the Cheltenham International Festival, Buxton Festival and Harrogate Festival in the UK, the International Beethoven Festival, the Mecklenburg Festival and the Kultur Kreis Festival in Germany, the Festival International de Musique Classique d’Aigues-Mortes, the Melle Festival and Festival de Saintes in France, the Vinterfestspill i Bergstaden in Norway and the Musik vid Kattegatt Festival in Sweden. Since 2013 he has been pianist-in-residence at the Glossop Music Festival.
Viv studied from an early age with Ruth Nye and after attending Chetham’s School of Music he went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Hamish Milne. At the Academy he held the Hodgson Fellowship and was made an Associate of the Royal Academy in 2005. He made his Wigmore Hall recital debut through winning the Friends of the Royal Academy Wigmore Award. Whilst studying at the Academy, he was the piano winner at the Royal Overseas-League Music Competition and was selected as one of three winners of the National Federation of Music Societies' Young Artists Competition, leading to various recitals and concerto appearances throughout Great Britain.
Viv has recorded regularly for BBC Radio 3 since making his recital debut through the BBC Radio 3 Young Artists Forum scheme and has also recorded for Classic FM, WDR Radio in Germany, Radio France, ABC Radio in Australia, NRK Radio in Norway and for the Sky Arts television channel. His commercial releases include recordings for such labels as Sony Classical Japan, Naxos, Nimbus, RPO Records and ICSM Records.
Christina Bjørkøe
Christina Bjørkøe is an associate professor at The Carl Nielsen Academy of Music. She was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. At the age of 19 she was accepted by the Juilliard School of Music in New York where she studied with Seymour Lipkin, as later with Anne Oland at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.
She plays in Europe, China and domestic venues. She has appeared as a soloist, with orchestral engagements and as chamber musician at venues in Denmark, including the Tivoli Concert Hall’s major Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert series, as well as in Sweden, Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, France and South America, Asia and the USA.
Christina Bjørkøe has performed with most Danish symphony orchestras, with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra of Sweden, the Iceland Philharmonic Orchestra, Recife Festival Orchestra in Brazil, The Czechish Chamber Orchestra and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR.
Christina Bjørkøe's recording of Knudåge Riisager's piano music received the Danish Music Award 2005 and 2009 her recording of Carl Nielsen: Complete Piano Works received the Danish Music Award as Solo Recording of the Year. She twice won First Prize in the Steinway Competition and has been awarded several other prizes and grants including the prestigous Victor Borge Award.