Interviews with musicians, composers and conductors
My success as a musician is defined by how much of my life I can fill with playing and performing great music. I love to play. I love to make music with friends and inspiring colleagues. Success for me is not earning a lot of money or becoming famous—it is getting to create art every day.
My parents were not familiar with classical music. I was introduced to piano at school when I was 7; it was a shock and a blessing; I remember I was so excited I could hardly sleep for a few days.
Founded by the late MP, the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness published in 2017 that in the UK alone, more than 9 million people often
I am obsessed by the idea of musical fluency. This is the ability to express music naturally and freely in a way that is a seamless as speaking our native language. When people play or sing directly from their body and soul with authenticity, it is always a joy to hear.
I feel that I have been successful in a concert if I have genuinely moved the audience by the end. Whether that’s bringing happiness and making people smile through playing fun virtuosic works such as Arban’s Carnival of Venice, or causing people to feel emotional through performing works like Deborah Pritchard’s Seven Halts on the Somme, which was written to commemorate the centenary of the First World War
