Entry FREE for under 25s, £18 for adult tickets
Ian Jones
Ian Jones’ career as a Steinway Artist has taken him to all five continents. Appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra at London’s Royal Festival Hall and Barbican Hall include critically acclaimed performances of Rachmaninov’s Second and Third Piano Concertos and Paganini Rhapsody as well as concertos by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Schumann. He has appeared in Paris and throughout France as concerto soloist with the Ensemble International and has performed many of Mozart’s piano concertos in Europe and USA.
A prizewinner at the Leeds International Piano Competition, he also won many prizes, including the prestigious Chappell Medal, whilst a student at RCM. Other awards include the Vlado Perlemuter Piano Prize and a special scholarship from the French government inviting him to spend a year in Paris. His teachers included Maria Curcio, Gyorgy Sebok, Phyllis Sellick, Jerome Lowenthal and Alain Planès.
Ian Jones is much sought-after as a teacher and his students have enjoyed international success. He is Artistic Director of the World Piano Teachers Association International Piano Competition and often serves on the juries of other international piano competitions. He frequently examines and adjudicates at other leading conservatoires, including the Royal Academy of Music in London and regularly performs and conducts international masterclasses, most recently in China, USA, Serbia, Japan, Ireland, Greece, Italy and Russia and at conservatoires such as Sweden’s Royal College of Music and many keyboard faculties in USA.
Ian Jones was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 2014, an honour conferred on him by HRH Prince Charles.
He was piano coach, music advisor and composer/performer on the Oscar-nominated film Hilary and Jackie and has also written and performed music for France’s two national theatres in Paris and Strasbourg.
Ann Martin-Davis
Ann Martin-Davis’ love of 20th century and contemporary art crosses all genres and this has led to a career in pursuit of new ways of presenting solo piano and chamber music. Her reputation in the world of chamber music is wide and various; she has curated concerts at numerous arts festivals and has performed twentieth century and contemporary repertoire throughout the world.
Her most recent recording for Guild Music of the solo piano works of Maurice Ravel received international acclaim. In addition to her piano performing and producing work, Ann coaches undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students at the University of Oxford, gifted young students in China and adult piano returners in France at Piano at Le Maillard.
She is also much in demand as an adjudicator and public speaker (as well as UK conservatoires, she frequently gives seminar tours of SE Asia for private studios and for ABRSM) having worked with over four thousand students and piano teachers in seminars in the last three years. She was described by the Sunday Times as ‘a compelling ambassador for classical music.’
Ann is a keen gardener; she has high hopes for her tomato varietal ‘big boy’ and she is a trainer, playmate, cleaner and chef to Gus and Sofie, her two mischievous wire-haired sausage dogs.
‘A distinguished scholar and pianist’
2017 competition:
Recent winners of the Competition who have gone on to busy international careers include Alexander Ullman and Ji Liu (both YCAT Artists in 2015 and 2016) and Riyad Nicolas (The Countess of Munster Musical Trust).