Piano
Piano

A new four-day festival celebrating the piano in chamber music is coming to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Festival logoTaking place between 20th and 23rd November, the Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Festival will feature concerts by eight competing ensembles as well as masterclasses and evening recitals.

The concerts will take place in the Bradshaw Hall and Recital Hall and the opening and closing concerts will be livestreamed by Classic FM.

The Festival has been put together by Daniel Tong, head of piano chamber music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He said: “The piano in chamber music has traditionally been undervalued and underrepresented in events such as this, from the ‘accompanist prize’ in a song recital to a relative lack of successful, long-standing piano chamber ensembles.

“There are many events, festivals and competitions for the string quartet or solo piano and it’s time the piano was celebrated in chamber music too. So in this festival we aim to explore this unique and rich body of work.”

Entrants from across the globe were selected via live and livestreamed auditions with eight duos and ensembles invited to participate in the festival.

Three celebrity recitals by jury members and visiting international artists will see performances by the London Bridge Trio, Gould Trio, Katya Apekisheva, Michael Gurevich, Robin Ireland, Alice Neary, Christoph Richter, John Thwaites and Daniel Tong.

Three of the competing ensembles will be selected to perform in the grand final concert with the winners receiving £4,000, engagements – including at London’s Wigmore Hall – and a recording with Resonus Classics.

For more details and to book tickets to the performances visit www.bcu.ac.uk/pianochamberfest18 or call 0121 331 5901.