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Reimaginings and Transcriptions: Vivaldi and Bach in London – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
The penultimate weekend in March saw me in London for two exceptional concerts in particularly lovely settings. The experience was enhanced by the company of friends and a delicious meal with a wonderful view across Smithfield (former meat market, now the new site for the Museum of London) to St Paul's cathedral. A Season to…
Contemporary Poetry Meets Choral Music in Living Voices – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Living Voices is a new collection of ten inspiring choral pieces composed by Russell Hepplewhite. This innovative project brings together the talents of Hepplewhite and ten of Britain’s most outstanding contemporary poets, each commissioned to create poetic responses to our world today.
Anima Mea: Minimalist music ‘chiseled in crystal’ – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Guest review by Michael Johnson It is a rare occurrence for me to slide a CD into my player and fall immediately under the spell of haunting, hypnotic music I had never heard before. But “Anima Mea” (La Musica LMU 094), performed by the Pascal Trio and the young counter-tenor Paul Figuier, did just that.…
London Piano Festival 2025: Celebrating 10 Years of Music – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
The tenth London Piano Festival takes place between 9 and 12 October 2025 at Kings Place, London Three world premieres written to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Festival by composers Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Stephen Hough and Elena Langer The central Gala, featuring co-founders Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva with Stephen Hough, Ingrid Fliter, Ronan O’Hora,…
Hertfordshire Festival of Music 2025: A Week of Musical Discovery – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Last week I went up to Hertford, the attractive county town of Hertfordshire, to attend an inaugural concert and reception, ahead of this year's Hertfordshire Festival of Music (HFoM) which runs from 7 to 14 June. I have been involved in the Festival since its founding by conductor Tom Hammond (who tragically died in 2021)…
Personal Passions: Piano and Art at October Gallery – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Guest post by Howard Smith 4 pianists, 4 passions Two hours of piano music, accompanied by GenAI art projection and a smattering of poetry. Performers: Elena Toponogova, Ophelia Gordon, Howard Smith and Matthew Baker Music by Frank Bridge, Nikolai Medtner, Erik Satie, Francis Poulenc, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel & Nikolai Kapustin. What's behind our forthcoming…
Notes from the Keyboard: Rekindling the Piano Spark – A Lesson from Bach – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Guest post by Dakota Gale, the latest article in his series aimed at adult amateur pianists Not gonna lie: I had no idea what to write for this month’s Notes from the Keyboard. Why? Well, honestly, for a lot of December and much of January, my enthusiasm for piano was lower than a gopher’s interest…
Celebrating Nostalgia in Stephen Hough’s New Piano Concerto – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
'The World of Yesterday' - written & performed by Sir Stephen Hough with the Bournemouth Syphony Orchestra, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. Wednesday 26th February, Lighthouse, Poole British pianist Sir Stephen Hough hadn’t intended to write a piano concerto. But during the dark days of the COVID pandemic, he was approached to write a score for…
Join the Fight: Stream This Album to Save Music – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Don't legalise music theft! More than 1000 musicians have come together to release a silent album protesting the UK government’s planned changes to copyright law, which will make it easier to train AI models on copyrighted work without a licence. The album, titled Is This What We Want?, features recordings of empty studios and performance…
First-ever Critical Edition of Agathe Backer Grøndahl’s ‘Fantasy Pieces’ Released – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Distinguished music publisher Edition Peters have published the first-ever urtext edition's of of Fantasistykker (Fantasy Pieces) Op. 39 and I Blaafjellet (In the Blue Mountain) Op. 44 by Norwegian composer Agathe Backer Grøndahl.
A Season To Sing: Vivaldi Reimagined for Choir – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Ahead of the official launch of A Season To Sing, a reimagining of Vivaldi's evergreen The Four Seasons for mixed voices and organ, composer Joanna Forbes L'Estrange offers insights into her compositional processes involved in rearranging this popular work for choir and explains why this piece is so appealing to her personally. The work receives…
How Piano Lessons Boost Learning Skills in Children – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Teach a child to play the piano and you will almost certainly additionally grant them regular access to an inspirational teacher who will coach them and rehearse the priceless skills they need to learn all other school subjects
In Search of Lost Time – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Guest post by Dakota Gale, part of his Notes from the Keyboard series for adult amateur pianists Back in 1970, when my mom was 18, she composed the first section of the only piece of piano music she’s ever written. Perhaps inspired by copious amounts of listening to Debussy and Satie, the music just poured…
Mozart’s Catalogue in Question: A Revolution in Music History – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Guest post by Luca Bianchini Mozart is said to have written a catalogue of his works, which he reportedly began in 1784 and completed in 1791—or so it was believed until recently. The Thematic Catalogue, held in the British Library in London, is a small, ninety-page book in excellent condition. It is bound and features…
Season’s Greetings from The Cross-Eyed Pianist – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
https://videopress.com/v/0cOL7eD8?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&posterUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fvideos.files.wordpress.com%2Fcr3W7y0i%2Fmy-christmas-card_mp4_std.original.jpg&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true Music by Joanna Forbes L'Estrange A big thank you to every one who reads, comments upon, shares and contributes to this site Wishing you a very happy and music-filled 2025 Frances The Cross-Eyed Pianist https://open.spotify.com/user/1966frances/playlist/3MgyQ9cjZH6nrU57pcBovr
Tradition: peer pressure from dead people or following in the footsteps of greatness? – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Classical music is swathed in tradition and culturally conditioned thinking. The traditions of concert-going, for example, are well-known and show little sign of relaxing, despite the best efforts of more forward-thinking musicians, ensembles, concert managers and venues. Likewise, the score is regarded as the ‘sacred text’ of classical music wherein lies the composer’s ‘intentions’, and…
Notes from the Keyboard: Learning my first Beethoven Sonata – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Guest post by Dakota Gale, the latest article in his series aimed at adult amateur pianists Soon after I started piano lessons in 2021, my teacher showed me a clip from a Beethoven Sonata to demonstrate a technique. “Is this piece hard?” I asked? “It’s a Beethoven sonata!” he replied. The meaning was clear: they’re…
The Pianist’s ‘Non-Negotiables’ – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
This post is inspired by Episode 2 of Season 3 of The Bear, a drama series about a young chef, Carmy Berzatto, trained in the fine dining world, who comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop after a heartbreaking death in his family. By the third series, the noisy sandwich shop has…
Oxford Piano Weekends three years on – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Guest post by Charlotte Tomlinson January 2025 will mark the 3rd anniversary of the Oxford Piano Weekends, and the thirteenth weekend. I can hardly believe that what started on the back of an envelope in late 2021, has developed into such a fixture in the piano course market that pianists return again and again. We…
Alone yet together: the pleasure of attending live music on your own – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
I’ve been going to live classical music concerts since I was a little girl – and not just professional concerts, but also amateur performances when my dad (a clarinettist) played in a local amateur orchestra. As keen music-lovers, my parents took me to all sorts of concerts – big orchestral performances at Birmingham Old Town…
A life of ‘wonderful happiness’ – Ursula Oppens at 80 – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Guest interview by Michael Johnson A legend in contemporary piano music, Ursula Oppens has just turned 80 and shows no sign of trimming back her busy life of recording, performing, teaching and commissioning new works from American composers. She fights the aging process with tremendous vitality and mostly wins. But as she told The New…
Repertoire in focus: Haydn Variations in f minor, Hob. XVII:6 – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
I first discovered this wonderful set of variations through a concert pianist friend, who performed them in a salon concert some years ago. As a lifetime lover of Schubert’s music, I was struck by how “Schubertian” this music is, especially in the minor key variations, where Haydn finds great emotional depth and expression. The piece…
Naresh Sohal: Complete Piano Music – A Fusion of Eastern Mysticism and Western Techniques – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
British-based composer Naresh Sohal was born on 18 September 1939 in Punjab in pre-Partition India, and was the first person of Indian origin to make his mark as a composer of western classical music. His family had no musical pedigree, nor any connection with western classical music; his musical tastes were formed by listening to…
Taking piano lessons online – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Guest post by Dakota Gale The latest article in a series aimed at adult pianists I recently attended a piano performance, during which I spoke with a 92 year old woman sitting next to me. She’d played and taught piano for decades. When I mentioned that I take lessons online, her eyes widened. “ONLINE lessons?…
Blade Runner Live elevates the film experience – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Guest post by TC The score is the backbone of a film’s emotional landscape, serving as an integral element that enhances storytelling, deepens characters, and elevates or emphasises cinematic moments. Composed to underscore the narrative and visuals, a good score can transform the viewing experience from ordinary to extraordinary, subtly guiding audience reactions and infusing…
A trio of concerts at London’s most stylish small venue – The Cross-Eyed Pianist
7 Star Arts present a trio of concerts at the 1901 Arts Club this autumn featuring leading musicians in a range of imaginative programmes of music from Nadia Boulanger to George Gershwin and Benjamin Britten - and much more besides. These concerts are in support of English National Opera's Benevolent Fund