Known internationally for her ‘Composer Portraits’ in words and music, pianist Lucy Parham presents Elégie at Kings Place’s London Piano Festival, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rachmaninov.

Elégie chronicles the life of composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninov. Though he became an exile in 1917, Russia remained deeply rooted in his soul. His cultural identity and his longing for his homeland imbue his music, not least the many much-loved works he wrote for his own instrument, the piano. The narrative, scripted from letters and diaries, read by actor Tim McInnerny, follows Rachmaninov from his youth in Russia, through his subsequent self-imposed exile in 1917 and finally to California USA, where he died in 1943.

The concert includes many of his best-loved works for solo piano, including a selection of Preludes, Etudes-Tableaux and Moments Musicaux, some of his own transcriptions and the haunting Elegie, as well as works by Scriabin and Tchaikovsky.

The performance will last approximately 80 mins, without an interval. 

“Lucy Parham’s trailblazing evening concerts in which she fuses music and words with the help of some of our most distinguished thespians, have become one of the must-see events on the musical calendar.” BBC Music Magazine

“This is the crowning glory of Parham’s Composer Portrait series” Pianist Magazine ***** (5 stars)

Tim McInnerny