Acknowledged as one of Britain's finest pianists, Lucy Parham first came to public attention as the Piano Winner of the 1984 BBC TV Young Musician of the Year, since when she has performed extensively throughout the UK and Europe, South Africa, USA, Canada and Russia. As concerto soloist abroad she has appeared with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra at the Tchaikowsky Hall and Great Hall in Moscow, L'Orchestre Rencontres Suisse, Bergen Philharmonic, L'Orchestre National de Lille, and three tours with the Polish National Radio SO and the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2002 she was the soloist with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth on their six- week 50th Anniversary tour of the USA and she has toured the UK, Mexico and Turkey with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Having made her Royal Festival Hall concerto debut at 16, Lucy Parham has since appeared regularly at all the major London venues. As concerto soloist she has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Philharmonia, RTE Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, City of London Sinfonia, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Hallé and the with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - with whom she has given over fifty concerts and made many recordings. Conductors include Barry Wordsworth, Sir Charles Groves, Bryden Thompson, Richard Hickox, Antoni Wit, Owain Arwel Hughes, Yoav Talmi, Veronika Dudarova, Martyn Brabbins, Sian Edwards, John Wilson and Jean-Claude Cassadesus. Festival appearances include Brighton, City of London, Leeds Castle, Rye, Bury St Edmunds, Three Choirs, Newbury, Victor Hugo, Guernsey, Canterbury, Winchester, Harrogate, BBC Proms, Welsh and Scottish Proms, Chelsea, Cardiff, North Norfolk, Oxford, Bergen, Istanbul and the Cervantes in Mexico City.

In recent years, Lucy Parham has established herself as one of the leading interpreters of Robert and Clara Schumann. Her unique recording of their Piano Concertos, with the BBC Concert Orchestra/Wordsworth (Sanctuary Classics,) won the BBC Music Magazine "Critics' Choice of the Year." Her other recordings include concertos by Ravel, Franck and Fauré with the RPO for RPO Records, Rhapsody in Blue with the BBC Concert Orchestra for BBC Worldwide and with the RPO for EMI Gold, a solo Chopin CD for ABM ,“The Romantic Piano” (Sanctuary Classics) and an acclaimed solo Schumann CD (ASV).

Lucy Parham has been a frequent guest and presenter for several BBC Radio 3 and 4 programmes, including and Building a Library, Proms Plus, The Essay, Music Matters, Composer of the Week, Sunday Salon and CD Review, as well as a contributor to BBC Music Magazine, Pianist Magazine and the Guardian. In both 2006 and 2009 she was seen on BBC TV as the commentator for the six programmes about the Leeds International Piano Competition. She was on the jury for the Final of the 2008 and 2010 BBC TV Young Musician of the Year and a BBC Radio 3 commentator for the Concerto Final.

Her highly successful words and music concert "Beloved Clara" premiered in the 2002 Wigmore Hall Masters Series. The CD of Beloved Clara (featuring Joanna David and Martin Jarvis) is available on Sanctuary/ASV. Critically acclaimed, it was also chosen as CD of the Week in the Sunday Times, Guardian and Observer. Her subsequent words and music evening “Liszt – An Odyssey of Love”, premièred in 2008 in the London Pianoforte Series at the Wigmore Hall and both “Odyssey of Love” and “Beloved Clara” received their US premières in Los Angeles in 2008 and were broadcast throughout the USA on National Public Radio.

The third evening in the trilogy,”Nocturne” – The Romantic Life of Frédéric Chopin” received its London première in the London Pianoforte Series at the Wigmore Hall in July 2010 with Dame Harriet Walter and Samuel West. The CD of “Nocturne” is due for release in 2012.  Her fourth words and music evening “Rêverie – the life and loves of Claude Debussy” will be performed throughout the UK this year and Dominic West will narrate the performance in the Wigmore Hall London Piano Series in December.

LINK TO SHORT BIOGRAPHY