BIOGRAPHY
In a career of unusual diversity, with an extensive discography of more than 80 albums of music ranging from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries, John Lenehan has performed in concerts worldwide. His breadth of repertoire has led to his popularity on Spotify and Apple Music, with over a million monthly listeners globally.
Praised by the New York Times for his 'great flair and virtuosity' and the (London) Times – 'a masterly recital', John Lenehan has also collaborated with some of the leading instrumentalists of our time.
As soloist he has appeared with LSO, RPO and LPO amongst many other orchestras and his recordings include piano recitals and concertos as well as duo sonatas, chamber music and jazz. A four-disc survey of John Ireland’s piano music received great critical acclaim including a Gramophone award, and other solo recordings include three discs for Sony Classical of minimalist piano works and a disc of Erik Satie (for Classic FM).
Most recently he has recorded albums with the Rossetti Ensemble and concertos by Mozart (K.467) and Beethoven (Emperor) with the National Symphony Orchestra.
'One of our most celebrated musicians….he has a sophisticated range of tones into which he dips like an old master with his palette. Infinitely graceful playing charged with Lenehan’s characteristic vitality and warmth. Savour the sound of a pianist in his element'
Classic FM
John Lenehan also composes, with works published by Faber, Novello, and Schotts. His Fantasy on Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker has been recorded by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and his 2023 piano concerto The Legend of Maritime Silk Road (commissioned by the Silk Road International Arts Centre and premiered in Beijing) has been performed in China several times since then.
He has written and arranged for a long list of soloists and orchestras including Lang Lang, Nigel Kennedy, Yuja Wang, Tasmin Little, Nicola Benedetti and the BBC Concert Orchestra, RPO and Hong Kong Philharmonic. In 2021 his work was heard in the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris (Orchestre de Paris) and The Last Night of the Proms (BBCSO).
A collaboration during lockdown with Dame Joanna Lumley and the Philharmonia created a reading of The Night before Xmas with incidental music. His recent reworking of Malcolm Arnold’s Concerto for 2 Pianos (3 hands) as a piece for one soloist was premiered by him in 2025 at the Malcolm Arnold festival.
John’s interest in the combination of music and film has been long-standing. As well as performing on several more recent soundtracks (such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings) he has, as director of Sounds for Silents written and arranged more than 20 scores for silent films, and continues to present film and music programmes, reviving the art of the improvising pianist – the most recent being a tribute to the roaring twenties.
John Lenehan is a Steinway Artist.
'John Lenehan stood in for an indisposed artist and blew a breath of fresh air over the programme. Prokofiev’s third Sonata was brilliantly dashed off and showed his spiky, exuberant playing at its best'
The Times