Acknowledged
as one of Britain's finest pianists, Lucy Parham
first came to public attention on winning the 1984
BBC TV Young Musician of the Year Piano Class, since
when she has performed extensively throughout the
UK and Europe, South Africa, USA, Canada and Russia.
She studied at the Guildhall School of Music with
Joan Havill where she won all the major prizes including
the Gold Medal Rosebowl. As concerto soloist abroad
she has appeared with the Russian State Symphony
Orchestra at the Tchaikowsky Hall in Moscow, L'Orchestre
Rencontres Suisse, Bergen Philharmonic, L'Orchestre
National de Lille, and three UK 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.
Lucy Parham made her Wigmore Hall debut in 1989, and
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, Brighton Philharmonic,
Ulster Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic,
London Mozart Players, City of London Sinfonia, Royal
Scottish National Orchestra, Hallé and Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductors include
Barry Wordsworth, Sir Charles Groves, Bryden Thompson,
Richard Hickox, Antoni Wit, Owain Arwel Hughes, Yoav
Talmi, Martyn Brabbins, John Wilson and Jean-Claude
Cassadesus. Festivals include Brighton, City of London,
Leeds Castle, Rye, Bury St Edmunds, Three Choirs, Newbury,
Winchester, Harrogate, 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, and a solo Chopin disc for ABM. “The
Romantic Piano” for Sanctuary Classics was released
in January 2005 and a year later her solo Schumann
CD was released on ASV.
Lucy Parham has been a frequent guest presenter for
several BBC Radio 3 programmes, including and Building
a Library, The Essay. Music Matters, Composer of the
Week and CD Review, as well as a contributor to BBC
Music Magazine and Pianist Magazine. In both 2006 and
2009 she was seen on BBC 4 TV as 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 concert "Beloved Clara" premiered
in the 2002/3 Wigmore Hall Masters Series. It explores
the complex lives of Brahms, and Robert and Clara Schumann
told in their own words, through diary extracts and
music. Performances have included actors Joanna David,
Martin Jarvis, Edward Fox, Henry Goodman, Timothy West,
Gabrielle Drake and Charles Dance. 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 December 2008
and were broadcast throughout the USA on National Public
Radio.
Her most recent 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 Harriet
Walter and Sam West. Actors involved in other performances
include Juliet Stevenson, Rosamund Pike, Alex Jennings
and Greg Wise.
In 2006 Lucy Parham was the director of the 150th anniversary
Schumann Festival, “The Poet Speaks” at
Cadogan Hall, London and this September she will be
the director of the week-long Schumann 200 Festival
at Kings Place, London.
Appearances in 2010 include the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan
Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Kings Place, British
Library, concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
and further broadcasts for BBC Radio 3.
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