Celebrating the Piano

Coming very soon this month, we welcome the inimitable Joanna MacGregor, and her Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra celebrating its centenary in a wide-ranging and sharp-contrasting cinematic programme. She will be assuming the soloist’s role in the concertos by Bach and Schnittke as well as her own Piazzolla arrangements.

March will see the newest rising star of the Kanneh-Mason dynasty – Jeneba, launching her hotly anticipated and superbly programmed debut album, Fantasie. Her programme is bookended by two sublime sonatas by Chopin and Scriabin, alongside pioneering African-American composers, Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and William Grant Still.

In April, as part of our pioneering Platoon Presents at Kings Place series, we enjoy a visit from UK-based Australian artist Belle Chen, who has carved out a unique niche with her blend of virtuosity and imaginative storytelling. Her programme, Ravel in the Forest, mixing classical elements and electronic textures, is an invitation into an enchanted sonic landscape inspired by the rhythms of nature and the works of the French master in the 150th year of his birth.

Ravel receives a nod also from the Scottish talent, Ethan Loch, winner of the Piano Category Final at BBC Young Musician 2022, in a programme that opens with Jeux d’eau, alongside a selection of preludes by Debussy and Rachmaninov, and Chopin’s masterful Final Sonata.

Last but not least, our Programmers are busy behind the scenes with the final touches to the 10th-anniversary edition of London Piano Festival, co-curated by Festival Directors and musical partners, Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen. Watch this space for the on-sale announcement in the coming weeks.