Our Pianists
Vladimir&Estragon duo - Lada Bode - Rupert Cheek - Maxence Cyrin - Marcos Fernandez - Gail Ford
Lauren Hibberd - Francesca Spiegel - Graeme Thewlis - Transcontinental Poulencian Bazaar - Alex Windsor
Vladimir & Estragon Piano Duo
Andriana Minou and Nikos Stavlas have just finished their doctoral studies in Piano Performance Practice at Goldsmiths College, London, both of them with scholarships. They have been performing as a duo since 2006 and they have presented concerts with great success in various venues in London, Norway, France and Greece. Through their performances they seek to combine artistic excellence with enjoyable programmes that all sorts of audiences can engage with. Their repertoire extends from the classical and romantic eras to the 20th and 21st centuries, including pieces which are among the favourites of the piano duet repertoire as well as not so well known but equally worth-playing pieces and works written especially for the Vladimir & Estragon Piano Duo. The enthusiastic response of the audiences to all their concerts is the best proof of the efficiency of their choice of repertoire as well as of their radiant stage presence and remarkable communication with all kinds of audiences. Currently working on a project which combines a piano duet work by Wolfgang Rihm with a text written by one of us and a video constructed by a friend/video artist/director.
duo info (doc) - myspace - facebook - youtube
Lada Bode; London
Lana Bode is an award-winning pianist and teacher from the United States who has studied at the Royal Academy
of Music and at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she received her BMus magna cum laude. While still in secondary school, Lana
was a winner of the James A. Bland Scholarship Competition for 3 consecutive years. She won 1st place at the Loudoun Arts Council Excellence in the
Arts Piano Competition and was a top prizewinner in the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association Piano Concerto Competition.
At Indiana University, Lana developed an esteemed reputation for her performances as a chamber musician and accompanist. She has worked extensively with
vocalists and string, woodwind, and brass players, including students of Janos Starker, Mark Kaplan, James Campbell, Marietta Simpson, and Sharon
Robinson. Additionally, she has performed with several orchestras as both a piano soloist, and an orchestral keyboardist. While at Indiana Uni,
Lana studied harpsichord and fortepiano, and has been the harpsichordist for both chamber music and orchestra performances.
Lana has more than 10 years of experience teaching piano, both privately and in London schools. She is currently employed at the Gower School and
the Ealing Junior Music School.
In addition to her musical accomplishments, Lana has a prestigious academic record. Most recently, she won the 2008 Mu Phi Epsilon Musicological Research
Contest Award for her paper entitled “A Revolution in French Keyboard Music: Expression and Imagery within François Couperin’s
Pièces de Clavecin.”
Recordings © Lada Bode 2009-2010
Ravel Piano Concerto in G (mp3, 8mb) - Chopin Nocturne Op 48 No 1 (mp3, 5mb)
Rupert Cheek, London
I am a pianist and play a wide range of music. I have worked as a soloist and have accompanied singers and other musicians. I have worked as a pianist in primary schools, a youth music tutor, performed in pubs, at weddings etc. I have collaborated (as composer/pianist) with film makers, dancers, live artists as part of transit station™.
I have worked as as a supervisor in secondary schools & as a playworker.
I also play drums in Mars Fortress.
I am a composer and am currently working on a music theatre/opera/film project based on a book called We All Know Too Much by Chris Eales - for more info head to the Facebook Group / Page or WAKTM.com™
Current developing a duet repertoire with Francesca Spiegel including Poulenc's Sonata for Piano 4 Hands
Maxence Cyrin; France
One day in the east of France about 18 years ago, a 14-year-old boy sat down at a piano in his music class
and played Kiss's "I Was Made for Loving You”. His classmates loved it, and word of this talents got around the school. Much to his
disgust, the boy's gym teacher started calling him Richard Clayderman.
Now in his 30s, Maxence Cyrin still speaks bitterly of the gym teacher, still hates sport, and is still defying
the conventions of a concert pianist. Two years after that school rock performance, he discovered punk and turned his back on formal training.
The conservatory was too old, too dusty. There wasn't enough room for individuality.
He begin his career composing electronic music and release several records under different pseudonyms before singing
at famous parsian club “Le Baron” as a punk crooner. After
this, he found himself signed to Laurent Garnier's F Communication dance
label revisiting cult techno tracks for grand piano.
Three years after his debut LP, "Modern Rhapsodies", he’s releasing an album with renowned producer Marc Collin on the label Kwaidan Records. Still solo on the piano, He’s
reinventing indie-rock and electro’s emblematic songs.
His 2nd album "Novö Piano" will be released in March 2010
by Discograph. He covers pop, rock and electro and has played classical,
avant-garde, in theatre, adverts (MTV, Veuve Cliquot, Smirnoff, T - Mobile...),
fashion shows etc
Traditional (e.g. theatre); my 2nd album, a little of the 1st, compositions and other covers
External clients; 80's hits, indie rock and electro.
Marcos Fernandez; London
Studying for a Masters at RCM Autum 2009-
Recentlys graduated from RSAMD with a 2nd degree in Composition
Marcos Fernandez is a soloist & chamber musician, who has performed a variety of venues and occasions including accompanying singers, performing at weddings, improvising, theatre, opera, ballet. He recently formed a piano & flute duo with a student at the GSMD, perfomring 'cocktail' and classical music
Teaching
Performing / Accompanying;
solo & chamber recital/exams, weddings, receptions, theatre, improvisations,
piano-bar, opera repetieur, ballet lessons..
Raindrops keep fallin' on my head - Casablanca - A Rividerci Roma - I got rhythm
Composing;
Piano (solo / soloist & ensemble) comissions - Recitals, Ballet, Theatre,
Film music....
Short films, comtemporary and experimental contexts, piano with electroacustic music, and other piano.
www.marcos-fernandez.es/index.html (Spanish)
Gail Ford
Gail Ford studied music at Manchester University. A sensitive & intuitive accompanist, working in many fields including theatre, ballet & period dance, she also plays for private & corporate events, and also a silent movie pianist. Although grounded in classical music, her extensive repertoire includes musical theatre, music hall and light music from all eras. As well as all the strengths you'd expect from a formally trained musicians, her exceptional versatility and aural skills enable her to work away from the printed music page and undertake unusual and unexpected projects.
She has just finished the usual round of Christmas concerts & functions, and will be performing a live piano accompaniment to Harold Lloyd's silent movie "Safety Last" for Saffron Screen in Saffron Walden, Jan 3rd, with possible further movies planned for other cinemas & venues. She has corporate & private functions, recitals & other engagements booked throughout the year.
Massanet - Meditation from Thais - Cold Feet
Lauren Hibberd
Lauren Hibberd has recently completed
her Undergraduate & Postgraduate studies at the Royal
Northern College of Music where she studied solo piano & piano
accompaniment with John Gough. A former pupil of Chetham’s School
of Music, Lauren now performs regularly throughout the country as a soloist,
accompanist and chamber musician.
Lauren has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Shrewsbury
Symphony Orchestra, the Shropshire Sinfonia and has toured with the
Shropshire Youth Orchestra, including a performance of Mozart’s
G major Concerto K. 453 at the RNCM. In 2007, Lauren was also invited
to perform with Liverpool University Orchestra.
Lauren was a finalist in the Benslow Young Pianist Competition and, after
attending the prestigious Uppingham Piano School, she was one of 5 pianists
to be chosen to give a recital in London as part of the National Young
Pianist Laureate Scheme.
Lauren is a committed chamber musician, notably the pianist with The
Sterling Trio (flute, clarinet and piano). The trio is well established
throughout Britain, performing in venues such as St. Martin-in-the-Fields
and St. James’s Piccadilly. Passionate about promoting their unusual
combination of instruments and commissioning new works, the trio have
most recently collaborated with the composer, Sir
Howard Blake.
As well as piano performance Lauren is also committed to musical education
in the community through such organisations as Youth
Music, where she delivers music-making workshops as part of a team
of professional musicians, enabling young people to make music together.
Buy The Sterling Trio's new CD here (£6 + P&P)
Francesca Spiegel
StreetPianos.com - Millenium Bridge, London, June 2010
I must be the only one here who doesn't have anything resembling an accomplished CV in piano playing. I used to
think i'd be a pianist while I was growing up, around 2001 (I was 16) I was never closer, but it didn't happen. So I went to university in 2003
for a degree in Classics (I mean Latin & Ancient Greek), got quite good at it, now still I'm doing PhD, but certain awful life events have
caused some sabotage in the above plan B for some time now - accidentally that led to my sitting down at pianos in hospitals, I don't suppose I'd
ever been more grateful to have learnt and memorized all that Liszt, Beethoven
and Schumann - that music came with me and my hands, all that way to American
small town locked inpatient units, where Ifound, bizarrely but somewhat
a godsent: an old piano in the hallway.
I got the patients to dance, everyone drawn to me like magnet - of course
Ihad never studied at any Conservatoire - this was Yale New Haven where
I'd gone on my Classics scholarship, but it never did well on me - each
time this happened, I didn't go back to piano playing later, this winter
I moved back to England, found yet another piano, never felt truer to
the Red Hot Chilli Peppers line "destruction leads to a very tough
road / but it also breeds creation".
So here we go, think I have broken this spell that somehow came with quitting
piano eight years ago and desperately looking for what else I might do,
via theatre directing, discovering great books and writing, I couldn't
play. When looking to buy a piano this winter I met this incredible piano
salesman from Lincolnshire, who buys, restrings and creatively paints,
then sells, used pianos - I didn't buy from him but went to meet him and
dress up for his pianos (auction videos) and somehow ended up throwing
all of my aggression onto this huge steinway he's got in his kitchen,
wearing a biker jacket of his, he then gave to me - Maybe that's ridiculous,
but somewhere between those lines I found again that miracle, as if time
didn't exist, as if nothing's too late - not for anything - guess he was
filming that. Short films with piano stories is what I'll be doing, I
imagine - Never going to be who I'm not, but there is no reason to keep
away from pianos like I had been kept blocked, all this time. I bought
one, Iwill practise, hopefully can somehow convince audiences of what
i'd like to share through playing. Thanks
Current developing a duet with Rupert Cheek including Poulenc's Sonata for Piano 4 Hands
Graeme Thewlis, London
Graeme Thewlis, 29, was born in London
and studied classical & jazz piano at the Royal
College of Music, attaining a BMus hons degree in piano performance.
Despite having never had any organ lessons, Graeme has been playing the
organ since the age of 19, has had a position as Church Organist in London
since the age of 20, and, since 2005, has been Organist & Music Director
of St Peters in Fulham.
Graeme began his music career as a piano recitalist at the age of 14,
having entered & won many music competitions as a young child. As
a 19 year old piano student at the Royal College of Music, he immediately
became a dance pianist for children’s ballet classes and a church
ensemble chorister for weddings and funerals. He also co-founded a piano
duo called ‘Quadmanus’. Since December 2008, Graeme has given
regular recitals as both soloist & chamber pianist at the Actors
church of St Paul in Covent Garden’s piazza. Recent chamber
concerts in London include UK premiere performances of solo piano compositions
written by Canadian composer and flautist, Colleen
Muriel. These have been performed at St
Johns church in Waterloo and The Actors Church of St Paul in Covent
Garden. Graeme also is featured as a piano soloist of Colleen Muriel’s
piano works on a CD entitled ‘The
Waterloo Recording Session’.
Graeme has been worked as a jazz cocktail pianist for receptions in London
bars, restaurants and hotels, including a short-term residency at the
famous venue, ‘Volupte’, in Holborn. He has also been a pit
musician for Bill Kenwright Productions and for fringe theatre youth performances.
More unusual types of engagements to date include playing at the ‘Red
Hedgehog Café’ for a punk/rock musical in November 2007 called
‘Electronica’. In June 2008, he got a very good performance
review by critics as ‘pianist-on-stage’ for a revived 1950’s
jazzy musical- play of Sandy Wilson’s ‘The Buccaneer’,
performed at the Finborough Theatre in Earls Court. Graeme works as a
dance repetiteur accompanist and full-time improviser for open ballet
class within some of London’s top dance institutions as well as
at the Millennium Performing Arts and at the Centre of Performing Arts
College. Graeme is also a very dedicated repetiteur pianist for the distinguished
art form of eurythme, thus doing much collaborative work for the ‘London
College of Eurythme’, initially having played for a Waldorf eurythme
school for children in Islington. In addition to this, Graeme has done
collaborative work as a resident pianist at Rudolf Steiner House for eurythme
courses & workshops. In more recent years, he’s performed as
both a piano soloist and accompanist for eurythme presentation performances,
all at Rudolf Steiner House.
Transcontinental Poulencian Bazaar
Francesca Spiegel + Rupert Cheek = Piano Duo & Experiment
StreetPianos.com - Millenium Bridge, London, June 2010
The first piece that Francesca and Rupert played together was Poulenc's Sonata for Piano Four Hands which was played to various friends. They also started to improvise together. The rest is as yet unwritten...
Alex Windsor, London
Play solo piano - jazz standards / rock-pop / classical / improvisation.
Transcribe - I have a very strong musical ear and transcribe solos for people as well as make lead sheets from recordings for singers to give to other musicians.
Teach - ...but not that much... (I have one 12 year old pupil and she's great but I wouldn't be up for teaching anyone who's not interested, just for their parent's money.)
I take my own piano to gigs - I used to move them for Marksons and can get a piano move for £75 - so, to the venue & back again will cost me £150 so if the client's willing to pay...That's the cheapest price in London. I would only do it for my own gigs.
I run an open-mic event every Tuesday night at Ochre Works (underneath The Vortex jazz club) in Dalston although it's only recently started and not many singers / instrumentalists come yet but if you know of anyone who might be interested in coming down, would be great if you could send them my way (especially if they bring charts)
Compose
http://alexjazzpiano.110mb.com
© Piano Talent / Rupert Cheek, 2010. Images & Recordings and biographies remain © of performers
