Connor Fogel, pianist

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music and who or what have been the most
important influences on your musical life and career?

It all started quite randomly really. There is absolutely no musical background in my family at all.
For my fourth birthday, my Grandad (who was quite the character shall we say) had, for whatever
reason, bought me a small toy Casio keyboard from the local corner shop. To all my family’s
bemusement I was quickly able to pick out TV theme tunes and advert jingles on the little
keyboard. Slightly later in life when I was about eleven I remember seeing Lang Lang play the
Horowitz transcription of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 on The Royal Variety Show, and around the same time I saw an older boy at school play Chopin’s Fantasie-Impromptu at a school concert, and that was it, I wanted to be them. Both Lang Lang and the boy from school sounded like they had ten hands. An impossible, glittering waterfall of notes. A magic trick. I wanted to do that. I still do.

Liszt continues to be an important influence on my life. I remember a moment shortly after finishing my degree in the piano and beginning my masters in conducting, realising I was suddenly free, liberated from exam syllabuses and criteria, and independent as a pianist… what would I do? What
should I play? What sort of pianist am I? Well, I was already a Liszt nut, so I thought, “What did he
do that made him so famous? How did he build a rockstar career with just a piano?” And thus
began my obsession with Liszt, his life, his recitals, his playing style, his music. That moment was
10 years ago now and Liszt’s life continues to fill me with elation and excitement.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

I recently made my first professional recording as a solo artist! I’ve recorded plenty of times before as part of an orchestra, or as one of several solo artists contributing music, but this was the first time I recorded an entire album of just me. We recorded 70 minutes of some of the most difficult music Liszt wrote over two days in late July 2025. I don’t think I was fully prepared for just how intense and difficult such a task would be. It really hammered home the level of scrutiny one needs in the practice room. It is so different to performing – there are no applause after a great take, some passages we recorded again and again and again until it was absolutely perfect, it’s really hard to keep a sense of musical connection and spontaneity. Its felt very much like methodically building a product rather than a creative outburst or flash, as live performance is.

But how lovely to build such a product! It was an exhilarating two days and incredibly humbling.

My respect for other recording artists has gone through the roof. I felt very much close to the limit of what I am capable of. The CD is be called Rediscovering Liszt and will be released on Prima Facie Records on July 10 2026. It is part of a larger research project which is attempting to authentically capture historical playing styles, and in this case recreate Liszt’s recitals – both the repertoire and the 19th century historical performing style have been reconstructed based on enormous amounts of research.

Aside from that juggling two parallel careers is no mean feat – I spend the majority of my life in the world of Musical Theatre, working on London’s West End and internationally, sometimes as a
conductor, keyboard player, and everything in between. So delegating and organising time is often a full time job in itself.

Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?

I am very proud of Rediscovering Liszt. Its an intense listen, but with some great tunes and wild
piano writing. And hearing the reconstructed style applied to these pieces is immensely satisfying.

I’m also very proud of my performance at the UK Liszt Society International Piano Competition
back in 2019. This was long before I began my serious research into historical playing styles and
recreations of Liszt’s recitals, but I played music I loved in my own way at the time. I was lucky
enough to win 2nd prize and the society have been wonderful allies since.

I’m also very proud of the various West End musicals I’ve been lucky to perform in- particularly the Phantom Of The Opera, which I’ve played keyboards for a lot over the last few years. It’s easily one of my favourite shows – I still get goosebumps during the show- and to be a very small part of such a long running show (40 years!) with a wonderful rich history, I’m very proud of that.

This year I have been touring with the Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of Roald Dahl’s
The BFG, which we performed in Stratford, Chichester and Singapore. Getting to travel the world
doing what I love, especially with such a joyful and uplifting show, its just wonderful.

A few months ago I was delighted to be invited to perform at The Liszt Celebration Day at Draper’s Hall, Coventry, on the 185th anniversary of Liszt’s recital there. Playing in a space Liszt had played in was magical. The room is large and very boomy and reverberant – potentially giving us a clue as to what sort of tempi Liszt may have selected for such spaces, especially when considering how virtuosic and jam-packed full of notes so much of Liszt’s repertoire was during the height of his touring career. Beyond a certain speed such music becomes a difficult blur in such spaces. I played Réminiscences de Don Juan, and the Grand Galop Chromatique, which Liszt actually played at that venue.

Which particular works/composers do you think you perform best?

Liszt and Andrew Lloyd Webber! Plenty of composers I absolutely adore but don’t feel as comfortable as Liszt under my hands – Chopin, Bach, Finnissy, Ligeti, Xenakis… And like wise there is plenty of music that fits my body beautifully that I can’t imagine myself performing live any time soon – Mozart, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Ustvolskaya, Beethoven. Then some composers just tick every box. Liszt, Lloyd Webber, Ravel, Sondheim, Rodgers… but Liszt is really filling my horizons at the moment.

What do you do off stage that provides inspiration on stage?

I dance, I sing, I laugh with friends until I am in physical pain, I stay out late with people I love, I
travel, I absorb media both highbrow and lowbrow. Its so easy to get lost in the practice, the detail, the heaviness and seriousness of a career in music. I think it’s so important to have fun, to
remember that none of it really matters. And I find it affects my playing positively too – how can one shape a phrase if one doesn’t sing now and again? How can one play with rhythmic excitement if one doesn’t dance now and again? I also paint portraits, I love art and cinema, I often think of music in artistic or cinematic terms. And of course theatre – there are so many parallels between acting through song techniques and playing instrumental music. Play the character’s intention rather than the effect of the scene. Know where the character’s thought shifts are, large and small. Notice how the character has changed by the end of the piece – what have they discovered about the world and themselves? How will they move foreword? It’s all the same with music. I find that fascinating.

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?

Currently I’m letting Liszt decide for me. I was always surprised at the lack of collecting and formal cataloguing of Liszt’s many many recital programmes from the 1830’s and 40’s, and I am even more surprised that no one seems to be interested in performing these programmes. The set lists of the first smash hit rockstar – for me it’s a no brainer. So right now I’m working my way through those. The recital I’m currently flogging Liszt played five times in 1843 in Germany, which doesn’t sound like much, but he seldom played the same programme twice let alone five times.

He played the William Tell Overture, Reminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor, Reminiscences de Don Juan, Schubert’s Standchen and Erlkonig, and the Grand Galop Chromatique. All of the pieces in this programme are staggeringly difficult and virtuosic, and were absolute staples of his performing repertoire. Also, by just swapping out a piece or two there are also many other Liszt programmes practically ready to see the light of day again. I’d like my next programme to be “the first ever piano recital” – that is so say the first time Liszt advertised a solo concert as “recitals at the pianoforte”: the first use of the term ‘recital’. It’s from London, 1840, and includes the last three movements of Beethoven’s 6th, some Schubert songs and Hexameron (Liszt’s glorious theme and variations which include variations from Czerny and Chopin!). Liszt’s programming is pretty erratic and wild by today’s standards, but I really think it works. So far, audience responses have been utterly wonderful. Its like every single piece is the grand finale, from first to last. They really go wild for this music.

Of course now and again I get the itch to play other rep – late Chopin, Mozart sonatas,
Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, early Debussy, pretty much all of Rachmaninoff and Ravel,
the violently virtuosic music of Michael Finnissy, Xenakis, Ustvolskaya. I’d love to make a CD
called Rediscovering Chopin and another called Rediscovering Mozart as follow-ups to
Rediscovering Liszt.

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

With my musical theatre career I am blessed to have been able to work in some of the most
staggeringly beautiful theatres in the country, all with full and fabulous histories. London’s His
Majesty’s Theatre – which has housed The Phantom of the Opera since 1986 – is such a special
building. Liszt performed there several times in the 1840’s, West Side story played there for the
first time in the UK, Tommy Cooper died on stage there. The amount of legends and icons that
have passed through that stage door… it gives me goosebumps. Likewise with The London
Palladium, another venue I’ve been lucky enough to play in (which, incidentally, is a few doors
down from a flat Liszt once stayed in). You really feel the weight of all the legends who have
performed there.

What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?

Honestly I think we are in quite a good place; Anna Lapwood is exploding all over TikTok and social media, there’s public pianos at train stations all over the place. Actually can we talk about the Channel 4 show The Piano? How wonderful that so many people – who are probably not classical music fans or barely music fans – are at home listening to Chopin or Debussy (possibly for the first time) being played by normal people and enjoying it. It’s really wonderful. It saddens me that a portion of the classical community are outspokenly critical of this show. Sure, its sickly sweet and not particularly intellectually taxing. But when else can you watch the show Gogglebox and see friends and families sitting at home listening to Chopin’s 4th ballade and saying how beautiful it is. It’s wonderful.

There is a real issue – as with all social media currently – of a small noisy minority who feel
empowered and emboldened to aggressively shame, belittle and berate others online. Recently
I’ve received some horrific abuse and unprovoked attacks online simply regarding my playing (of
course it doesn’t take them long for their comments to become deeply personal, bigoted and
hurtful). These people often tend to showcase a snobbish and elitist attitude towards classical
music. It’s still there and it’s a real shame. Luckily these people seem to be in the vast minority,
and 99% of the people I encounter are kind, gracious, insightful and eloquent. But I feel that noisy 1% can turn a lot of people off classical music, especially when potential classical music lovers are using social media to explore the classical music world for the first time, and may stumble across some untenable comments. I think pretty much every thing in life should be underlined with kindness.

What is your most memorable concert experience?

I remember a performance I did of Rachmaninov’s 3rd piano concerto when I was about 21. It was a smallish church venue, the audience were quite close to the piano. There was a young chap of about 7 or 8 sitting on the front row, and during the magical final appearance of the main theme during the first movement’s coda, he leans to his mother and I hear him whisper “that’s the same tune from the start!”. It was a really special memory – as cliche as it is – the most wonderful music, impacting a young mind like that, and being the person facilitating that sort of magic.

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

I have no idea. I set myself career goals that I think will make me feel successful, then as soon as I
achieve them I set another – usually bigger, sillier and less realistic goal, and the cycle continues. I
like socialising with the audience after a concert or show, I feel very successful in life at that point, regardless of how I feel the gig went. Getting to that point alone is a great success. Aside from that I guess I trust my gut in regards to how I think a gig went or how a career is going.

So my incredibly boring answer is – success is when I feel happy with it. Gig, concert, recording,
project, career… If I feel happy with it deep down, it was a success. There are of course a few
specific goals I’m still in the process of trying to tick off, but I sense that will always be the case.

What advice would you give to young/aspiring musicians?

Invest in your technique. Because any cracks or issues in technique will haunt you until they are
mended. The training during my degree was wonderful and I am incredibly grateful, however I left with a lot of technical limitations and messy playing. Then about 7 years ago I started retraining in The Taubman Approach (with a certified teacher of course). As the approach promised, the changes in my playing have been dramatic and profound. My pain has settled, my limitations have gone, I can solve technical problems with fun and ease. Any discomfort or difficulty at the piano can be dealt with using simple logic and detached reason, backed up by copious amounts of modern ongoing research. It’s the real deal.

I wish I had invested in my appearance sooner. Of course this isn’t a priority for everyone, I’m just
speaking from my own experience, but things like getting in shape, getting that trendy haircut,
finding nice clothes I love, aesthetics, I often used put things like off as a low priority and think I’ll
probably do it later. Then suddenly later is fast approaching. And it absolutely impacts me as a
musician. As performers we are seen, we are visual, we are on display to an audience, therefore I
think it’s really important to invest in looking after one’s self. The 2020 Lockdowns were a time for
me to reflect on this and address lots of long standing issues in this area, I came out of that period looking completely different. Like the old TV show Stars In Their Eyes.

But my best advice: enjoy life. As I said earlier – dance, sing, laugh, speak your mind with dignity
and empathy, absorb art, travel, do things that terrify you. Take the down time also – sometimes it’s important to do absolutely nothing and ENJOY it.

What’s the one thing in the music industry we’re not talking about which you think we should be?

New research and discoveries in historical performing styles. We have this huge, growing body of
evidence (piano rolls, old recordings, old treatises, historical anecdotal evidence) that paint such a different picture to how style and authenticity is taught at conservatoires or performed by the
majority of HIP specialists. For some reason it’s very controversial – people get really emotional
and outraged when someone suggests that Bach played with lashings of rubato, or Beethoven
arpeggiated any chord freely, or Mozart swung his semiquavers, or Chopin played the left and right hand out of sync with each other… from high level professionals to YouTube commenters, it’s difficult to have heartfelt beliefs challenged. Luckily there is a wonderful and ever growing
community who are dedicating their time and in many cases their careers to exploring these new
findings in historical authenticity. I highly recommend the books Off The Record by Neal Peres Da
Costa and After The Golden Age by Kenneth Hamilton if anyone wants to learn more. Or listen to
the oldest piano rolls and recordings that exist – wonderful recordings by Reinecke, Leschetizky,
Freidheim, Koczalski, Pugno, De Pachmann, Paderewski, Rachmaninoff, Brahms – the differences
in playing style are clear and stark, and we are able to make very well informed guesses as to
what music sounded like before the recording era. Does this mean we should slavishly imitate the older styles? I’m not really sure. Should we be fully aware of the older styles so we can make
informed decisions about our own playing in the context of recent trends? Absolutely.

What is your most treasured possession?

Gosh – if I had to save something from a burning house probably that little keyboard my Grandad bought me when I was 4 – I still have it and it still works 27 years later. I also collect vintage synthesisers so saving my wonderful 1983 Yamaha DX7 would also be a strong contender. Along with my paintings.

Actually I’d probably save my collection of Liszt memorabilia. I recently attended an auction and
was lucky enough to win various Liszt items – a lock of his hair, his cigar case (with four cigars), an
1840 painting of him (which will be on the cover of my CD), a flower from his grave, his 1838 life
mask, a cast of his hand, signed postcards, among other bits. It all arrived at my house in a box
marked “fragile”… understatement of the year! But it’s wonderful. Its all in my bedroom and
beginning each day looking at that mountain of history makes me very, very happy.

Rediscovering Liszt is released on 10 July on the Prima Facie label

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