Fantaisie

Piers Lane, Solo Piano

Piers’ recital is based around one of his favourite composers: Fredéric Chopin. The heart of the program is the F minor Fantaisie, with its dark suffering, its passionate nobility, its flights of fancy and extraordinary range. Mozart and, perhaps surprisingly, the Irishman John Field, were major influences on the Polish Chopin – and the Czech Smetana delightfully did for the polka what Chopin did for the mazurka and the polonaise. A recital blending the much-loved with the less familiar, revealing subtle connections and influences. But Piers will explain it all as he goes… 

London-based Australian pianist Piers Lane has a worldwide reputation as an engaging, searching and highly versatile performer, at home equally in solo, chamber and concerto repertoire. 

Concert Program:

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London-based Australian pianist Piers Lane has a worldwide reputation as an engaging, searching and highly versatile performer, at home equally in solo, chamber and concerto repertoire. Five times soloist at the BBC Proms, his wide-ranging concerto repertoire exceeds one hundred works and has led to engagements with many of the world’s great orchestras, working recently with conductors like Sir Andrew Davis, Vassily Sinaisky, Gerard Schwartz and Brett Dean.Festival appearances have included Aldeburgh, Bard, Bath Mostly Mozart, Bergen, Cheltenham, Como Autumn Music, Prague Spring, Rockport, La Roque d’Anthéron, Ruhr Klavierfestival, Schloss vor Husum, Seattle and the Chopin festivals in Warsaw, Duszniki-Zdrój, Mallorca and Paris.

He has performed in over forty countries, highlights including annual Wigmore Hall solo recitals and concerto performances in London’s major halls and at Carnegie Hall, including a performance of the mighty Busoni Concerto. In 2015 Piers Lane was appointed Artistic Director of the Sydney International Piano Competition and is responsible for initiatives like the 2021 Online Piano Competition, the Piano Lovers’ Competition for amateur Australian pianists and Composing the Future, a competition to help Australian composers and pianists during covid times.

He is a popular judge at international piano competitions and has also judged the Menuhin International Violin Competition and the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. His extensive collaborations with violinist Tasmin Little CBE, actress Dame Patricia Routledge (in the Dame Myra Hess exploration Admission: One Shilling) and the Goldner String Quartet have been of major importance. He is a member of the recently formed chamber group Amici della Musica. In recent seasons Piers Lane performed three concerti at Carnegie Hall, including the New York premiere of Ferdinand Ries’s Piano Concerto No.8 for the debut of The Orchestra Now (TŌN), and world premieres of Carl Vine’s second Piano Concerto and Double Piano Concerto (with Kathryn Stott) Implacable Gifts, both written for him.

His extensive discography for Hyperion includes much admired recordings of rare romantic piano concertos, the complete Malcolm Williamson piano concertos, the complete Preludes and Etudes by Scriabin, transcriptions of Bach and Strauss, along with complete collections of Concert Etudes by Saint-Saëns, Moscheles and Henselt, and transcriptions by Grainger. He has also recorded eleven volumes of piano quintets with the Goldner String Quartet for Hyperion, many cds with Tasmin Little for Chandos, further solo and chamber cds for EMI, Phillips, Dutton, Unicorn Kanchana and Mozart Concertos for ABC Classics. Recent releases include a Hyperion followup to the popular ‘Piers Goes to Town’ and awaiting release is a disc of Russian variations.

Piers Lane was Artistic Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music from 2007 to 2017, and from 2006 to 2013 directed the annual Myra Hess Day at the National Gallery in London. He has written and presented over 100 programmes for BBC Radio 3, including the 54-part series The Piano and has premiered works by such composers as Brett Dean, Colin Matthews, Richard Mills, Carl Vine and Malcolm Williamson. In the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Birthday Honours he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished services to the arts.

In 1994 he was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, where he was a professor from 1989 to 2007. Piers holds Honorary Doctorates from two Australian Universities: Griffith and James Cook. In 2022 he was presented with the coveted Sir Bernard Heinz Award for services to music in Australia.