 The Absolute classics organisation in Scotland is about to go live this weekend after more than a year of regularly streamed events.. On Saturday I will play a recital with the brilliant saxophonist Huw Wiggin. On Sunday I have two concerts - piano trios with the London Soloists Ensemble and a solo recital including the Goldberg Variations. Excerpts from the concerts will be recorded and available on the Absolute Classics YouTube channel in the future. Morel information here https://absoluteclassics.co.uk/festival/
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 There was a very special atmosphere at St. Mary's Church in Petworth as Emma Johnson, Raphael Wallfisch and Simon Blendis joined me in this extraordinary piece as part of the Petworth Festival. Extraordinary and effective lighting from Lee Stoddart certainly added to the occasion!
 I received a very warm welcome at the Harrogate International Festival recently when I stepped in at two days notice to replace an indisposed Martin Roscoe. Luckily I had played the Goldberg Variations in the previous week and they were delighted to have this as their first concert in 16 months. A memorable occasion!
 The European Piano Teachers Association's magazine features an extensive interview with me and can be read in full here....
https://app.box.com/s/971ld6b3dquc6z8j110e9f1gfnwcbsah The conversation (with Melanie Spanswick) covers a wide variety of subjects from my early teachers to improvising for silent films and recording John Ireland's piano music.  I happened to mention to my producer, Michael Ponder that I was interested in exploring the piano music of Alec Rowley and, such was the nature of lockdown, I was busy recording it just four weeks later for Epoch Dutton. It is beautifully crafted writing with plenty of memorable melodies all consummately written for the piano. If the name is familiar to you at all, you are probably thinking of music written for teaching purposes as he wrote a lot during the 1930s and 40s which became staples of the Associated Board Exams for decades after. However, the more serious and ambitious works include two sonatas and a suite plus a cycle of seven preludes each built around a different interval from seconds to octaves - an interesting idea! The fact that none of this has been recorded before is quite extraordinary, it is music that really shouldn't have suffered such total neglect. The disc, which includes all of the the works mentioned and more, will be available later this year.
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