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Extensive learning and engagement activities take piano out of the concert hall and into communities 

Outstanding young scholars from Lang Lang International Music Foundation also perform

“Artistry of that kind is rare in pianists of any age; to find it in a 20-year-old is simply astounding.”
The Daily Telegraph

Following his win at the Leeds International Piano Competition in September 2018, 21-year-old pianist Eric Lu returns to ‘The Leeds’ for Leeds Piano Festival, with recitals in Leeds and London. World-renowned pianists Steven Osborne and Barry Douglas also perform recitals, with Osborne leading a masterclass with Young Scholars from the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, building on the ongoing relationship between the Foundation and The Leeds.

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The Festival continues the much-enriched programme of events that surrounded the 2018 Competition, allowing audiences to engage with the piano and The Leeds beyond the triennial Competition. As part of The Leeds’ commitment to developing new and exciting ways of bringing the piano to as wide an audience as possible, the Festival – successfully inaugurated in 2018 – will again comprise many learning and engagement activities, including the return of the ‘Discover the Piano: Piano Fantasia’ on 28 March – The Leeds’ biggest primary school event to date, reaching more than 1,000 schoolchildren. The Young Scholars also participate in learning activities in primary schools and adult care settings in both Leeds and London – the latter once again in partnership with Wigmore Hall’s learning and participation programme – inspiring music lovers young and old with their prodigious talents.

Leeds Piano Festival recitals 

Eric Lu’s return to The Leeds is part of the revolutionary prize package at The Leeds last year, designed with career development in mind. The prize also included world-wide management with Askonas Holt, a release of his Leeds-winning performance on major label Warner Classics (released to much acclaim in November 2018), opening the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2018/19 season, mentoring with jury members and more. Lu performs Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 – a piece he performed in the Competition semi-finals and released as a single on Warner Classics following his win – as well as works by Mozart, Brahms and Handel.

Former Royal Philharmonic Society ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ Steven Osborne explores Beethoven’s final three piano sonatas. Osborne is a renowned interpreter of Beethoven’s music, not least from his critically-acclaimed recordings of the composer’s piano sonatas on the Hyperion label, and these recitals offer a rare opportunity to see him perform in an intimate setting.

Internationally-renowned pianist Barry Douglas pairs miniatures with more expansive works in both halves of his programme for the Festival, contrasting Tchaikovsky’s vignettes The Seasons with his Grande Sonata in G major, before pairing Rachmaninov’s Six Moments Musicaux with Schubert’s intense Sonata in A minor.

The Festival also showcases three Young Scholars from the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, developing the continuing relationship between the Foundation and the Leeds. Three exceptional young pianists, Aliya Alsafa, Jaspar Heymann and Shuheng Zhang – handpicked and mentored by Lang Lang, the Competition’s Global Ambassador –perform recitals at both Festival venues, as well as participate in a masterclass led by Steven Osborne at Leeds College of Music.

Speaking at the Finals of the 2018 Competition – where he also presented prizes and was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Leeds – Lang Lang stated: “I’m extremely proud of my association with the city of Leeds, and with the Piano Competition – which is doing so much to unite excellence and accessibility”.

Closing the Festival, celebrity pianist Alistair McGowan returns to The Leeds with Introduction to Classical Piano at Besbrode Pianos. An alumnus of the University of Leeds, McGowan previously performed at The Leeds during Piano + events at the 2018 Competition, and his 2017 recording The Piano Album reached Number One in the UK Classical Album Charts.

Learning and Engagement 

In addition to their recitals and masterclass, the Young Scholars participate in many external learning and engagement activities, following the success of similar events at last year’s Festival. As well as performing in the Piano Fantasia to over 1,000 primary schoolchildren, they also visit local primary schools in both Leeds and London, as well as adult care settings.

The University of Leeds, a principal partner of the Competition, hosts a ‘Steinway Experience’ on 30 March as part of Be Curious, the University’s research open day, where families can enjoy these wonderful instruments. Steinway & Sons, also a partner of The Leeds, has provided the pianos for the Competition since its beginnings in 1963.

Coinciding with Piano Day on 29 March, pop-up performances take place on the Leeds Piano Trail, in partnership with Leeds Business Improvement District (BID). These Besbrode pianos, decorated by local artists, were a popular feature of last year’s Competition and encouraged the public to play and experience the pianos at high-profile locations around Leeds city centre; most of the trail pianos stayed in place after the Competition due to the huge popularity of the initiative.

Adam Gatehouse, Artistic Director of the Leeds International Piano Competition, said: “After winning over both the jury and audiences at the 2018 Competition, we’re delighted to welcome Eric Lu back to The Leeds for the second annual Leeds Piano Festival. We’re thrilled too that Steven Osborne, Barry Douglas and the extraordinary Lang Lang Scholars will join him in both Leeds and London, allowing audiences to experience their remarkable talent and help us share in wonderful performances of great piano music. Deepening our roots in our communities by developing fun, diverse and inclusive events to enable more people to discover and fall in love with the piano is also crucial to our mission, and the Festival continues its inspiring work to attract ever-wider audiences.” 

Tickets for the Leeds recitals and the masterclass can be booked here, and the London recitals here.

 

Leedspiano.com

@leedspiano

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Performers understand the notion of “taking ownership” of a piece of music – making it their own by understanding the work in depth and bringing their own musical insights, life experience and personality to it to create a performance that is colourful and, more importantly, convincing.

While watching and commenting on the Leeds Piano Competition, an email exchange with a blogging friend of mine who was actually present at the concerto finals about our personal responses to hearing music, in particular in a live concert setting, reminded me that as a listener we can also take ownership of the performance.

Listening to music is a highly subjective and personal experience. I go to many concerts, often with friends, and discussions during the interval and afterwards reveal that we each take from a concert something that is deeply personal to us alone – and that includes negative experiences as well as positive ones.

It’s enjoyable and stimulating to discuss a concert with others, in the pub or via social media, but it can be frustrating when people assert their views with the express intention of trying to compete with my opinion or to suggest my opinion or response to the concert is less valuable or meaningful than theirs. This can have the effect of diminishing my experience of the concert and on occasion has led me to wonder if I might have something wrong with my hearing…..

The responses in the press and from friends who’d also attended Ivo Pogorelich’s last concert in London in 2015 is one such example. “Oh it was terrible!” one friend exclaimed after the event. “Fistfuls of wrong notes, erratic tempos and just so much wrong with his playing!“. The mainstream press eviscerated Pogorelich in their reviews, questioning not only his pianistic abilities but his reasons for daring to appear in London in the first place when he clearly wasn’t up to the job. I found the concert memorable for all sorts of reasons – yes, there was some peculiar playing, very personal and at times erratic, but there was also some incredible, thrilling and really beautiful playing (notably in the Brahms Paganini Variations). There were times when the narrative of the evening seemed to unfold like a Shakespearean tragedy (my personal feeling was that Pogorelich really didn’t want to give the concert), and a peculiar, almost comedic interaction with the page turner. At the end Pogorelich received a standing ovation – a reaction which a number of critics questioned. But for those people who stood to applaud their hero, their actions were entirely justified, because they felt he deserved it. And in doing so, they took ownership of the concert, each in their own way.

I too took ownership of that concert. Tired of people who had simply read the reviews in The Times, The Telegraph et al, but didn’t actually attend, telling me that Pogorelich’s career was “over” or that he should never be allowed to give a concert again, I simply replied “You weren’t there“. It was an extraordinary evening, and one I won’t forget in a hurry. A shame then that the comments and views of others rather undermined my experience.

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Piotr Anderszewski

A similar thing happened after I’d attended a concert by Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski, a pianist I much admire and try to hear every time he is in London. An acquaintance of mine wrote to me after reading my review and stated that this pianist was “a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes” but without explaining why he thought this. A day or so later, the acquaintance’s daughter then messaged me to tell me she thought Anderszewski’s playing was “awful!” and added “but each to their own, I suppose!“. I found this last comment deeply patronising, especially coming from someone who is nearly 30 years my junior, and any pleasure I had experienced at the concert was immediately destroyed.

It seems that some people feel the need to make such comments under the pretence of offering a critique when in fact all they are doing is trying to compete with or undermine someone else’s opinion or experience. But I know how I felt about Anderszewski’s performance, or indeed Krystian Zimerman’s 2017 Schubert Sonatas disc for that matter: those are my personal responses to the performances and the music, and are experiences which I own.

A similar scenario occurs when people turn to reviews in the press: if [insert name of well-known broadsheet newspaper here] says such-and-such a performer/concert/opera production is good/indifferent/shockingly bad it must be true. This attitude forgets that the critic is simply offering an opinion, not an empirical truth.

Our personal responses to music, concerts and performances are incredibly important, and contribute to an ongoing experience. Some concerts stand out more than others, the memory of them a potent lasting connection to the original event (I can still recall very vividly hearing the British pianist John Lill perform Chopin’s B-flat minor Sonata at the Southbank in the early 1980s. An engrossing, emotionally-charged evening, when he came to take his bow, he looked utterly shattered: I think it was the first time I realised just how bloody hard, physically and mentally, playing the piano can be).

Treasure your listening experiences and don’t let anyone else’s comments or critique diminish them. They are your experiences and yours alone: you own that concert.

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Why would a talented leading British composer include a document called a Failure CV on her website, alongside details of her extensive oeuvre and the many plaudits for her work?

British composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad is not alone in including such a document on her website. She prefaces it with the comment that “for every success I have, there are usually a LOT more failures that nobody ever gets to hear about”, and each entry on this Failure CV includes a note of how each project or submission turned out. On one level, it’s sobering reading – proof that composers (and musicians in general) must work hard and that success is often hard won. But it’s also rather inspiring and positive. Its honesty shows that Cheryl, and others like her, accept that a successful career trajectory is paved with many setbacks and failures, and it reveals a certain confidence which seems far more genuine than a list of accolades, prizes and press reviews.

The more usual kind of CV lists successes only, but this does not represent the bulk of one’s efforts. Nor does it acknowledge that failure is a necessary part of progress and without it, one cannot reflect on nor learn from those failures.

A composer can “hide” their failures. They need not mention the rejected funding applications nor the works which never got commissioned. A performing musician, however, exposes themselves to criticism in the very public forum of a live concert and errors will be remarked upon by audiences and critics. As musicians, failure can have a very profound effect on how we approach our music making and professional career. It can create feelings of personal humiliation which in turn may stifle our ability to learn and develop. Sadly for many of us, the “wrongness” of making mistakes is inculcated in us from a young age – by parents, teachers, and peers – and such prejudices combined with a constricted mindset lead us to blame and criticise ourselves for our failings

In fact, mistakes and slips in concert are a very tiny part of the “setback-reflect-progress” habit of the serious musician, who regards mistakes as positive learning opportunities rather than unresolved failures. Failure is part of creativity and mastery, and without it we cannot learn, explore, experiment, expand our horizons, and progress

It also fosters resilience and equips one with the tools to cope with the exigencies of one’s creative life. Being honest about failure is empowering, for oneself and for others, as it can help them deal with their own shortcomings and career setbacks, and encourage them to stick to the task.

What Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s Failure CV so neatly proves is that failure – and a willingness to learn from it – is a fundamental part of success: without those setbacks, Cheryl may never have reached the pre-eminent position she now holds in classical music in the UK and beyond.

Meet the Artist – Cheryl Frances-Hoad

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Inspired by a guest post on performance anxiety written by a friend from my piano Meetup group, I am launching a new occasional series of guest posts called Advice to Myself.

The articles are aimed at pianists and musicians in general and will offer practical, supportive and inspiring advice on aspects such as managing anxiety, preparing for performance, practising, repertoire, teaching, music exams, avoiding injury and more. The advice of others based on their experience of similar issues and challenges can be very helpful, and I hope these articles will also create a forum for discussion of the many issues which face musicians, amateur and professional.

Articles can include images, links, video and sound clips.

If you would like to contribute to the series, please contact me