The Performing Teacher

by Frances Wilson  June 20th, 2017

© auralize.com

I meet many piano teachers, at courses, workshops and masterclasses. It is always good to meet other piano teachers, to exchange ideas, and to enjoy a collective grumble about the exigencies of the job. Many of the teachers whom I meet are also performing musicians, professional or otherwise, and many regard performing as a necessary, indeed crucial, part of the job as a teacher.

I also meet many teachers who do not perform, for one reason or another. Some cite lack of time, others anxiety or lack of confidence. I actually met one teacher who claimed she was “too afraid” to perform for her students in case she made a mistake.

As teachers, performing is, in my opinion, a necessary part of the job, and we need to be able to guide and advise our students on how to present themselves in a “performance situation” (exam, festival, competition, audition), and to prepare them physically and emotionally for the experience. A whole new and different range of skills are required as a performer, and it is important to stress to students the difference between practicing and performing. We also need to be able to offer support for issues such as nerves and performance anxiety, and to offer coping strategies to counteract the negative thoughts and feelings that can arise from anxiety. How can you train others to perform if you have never done it yourself?

A successful performance demonstrates that you have practised correctly, deeply and thoughtfully, instead of simply note-bashing. Preparing music for performance teaches us how to complete a real task and to understand what is meant by “music making”. It encourages us to “play through”, glossing over errors rather than being thrown off course by them, and eradicates “stop-start” playing which prevents proper flow. You never really demonstrate your technique properly until you can demonstrate it in a performance. Performing also teaches us how to communicate a sense of the music, to “tell the story”, and to understand what the composer is trying to say. It adds to our credibility and artistic integrity as musicians. And if you haven’t performed a piece, how can you say it is truly “finished”?

I always perform in my student concerts, not to show off, but to demonstrate to my students (and their parents, who pay my bills!) that I can actually do it, that I too am continuing my piano studies by preparing repertoire for performance, and that I have managed my performance anxiety properly. I also feel that by performing with my students, we transform our concerts into a shared music-making experience. I hope that by hearing and watching me playing, my students can better grasp aspects of technique or interpretation we might have discussed in lessons, as well as enjoying the sheer pleasure of listening to piano music, and perhaps draw inspiration from it as well.

Hastings International Piano Competition 2026: A Showcase for Young Talent

 by Frances Wilson  February 23rd, 2026

Forty of the world’s best young pianists will soon converge on the White Rock Theatre for this year’s Hastings International Piano Competition (HIPC), which takes place from 26th February to 7th March.

Hastings International Piano Competition 2026 competitors

HIPC is a biennial classical piano contest held in Hastings, a seaside town in the south of England, with a long history dating back to the early 20th century through the Hastings Musical Festival. Piano luminaries such as Vladimir Horowitz, Artur Rubinstein and Sergei Rachmaninoff performed at the White Rock Theatre in the 1930s. Previous festival adjudicators include Lady Barbirolli and composer Ruth Gipps.

The competition was revived in 2005 as the Hastings International Piano Competition, and over the last twenty years it has grown into an internationally recognised showcase, drawing young concert pianists from around the world who have the opportunity to perform with leading UK orchestras, such as the Royal Philharmonic and Sinfonia Smith Square. The competition is unique in that participants are required to perform movements from a piano concerto (accompanied by another pianist) from the very first round. Those competitors who progress to Round 2 will give a solo performance of 30-35 minutes, which must include a new piece commissioned especially for the competition by pianist and composer Sir Stephen Hough.

Sir Stephen Hough

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for a composer to hear a piece played many times and brought to life under many different hands. I simply want to write something which younger colleagues want to play – not so much a test piece as one which they will enjoy performing beyond the competition.” – Sir Stephen Hough, patron of HIPC

Vanessa Latarche

“There’s not a composer alive who understands the instrument better than Stephen, after all, and it will be fascinating to hear twenty different interpretations of the piece during the competition….” – Vanessa Latarche, Artistic Director

(Test piece for 2024 competition) Chengyao Zhou – ‘Time Unredeemable’ by Lera Auerbach   

Chosen by an experienced pre-selection jury, who watched video auditions of 356 applicants from 46 countries, the 40 selected pianists – aged between 19 and 29 – will travel from 18 nations to compete in one of the world’s leading competitions for rising stars. They will be judged by, amongst others, Jean-Paul Gasparian, Scott Dunn, Boris Slutsky and Professor Vanessa Latarche, Artistic Director (since 2020) and Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music, London. Previous prize winners include Curtis Phill Hsu, Roman Kosyakov, and Kenneth Broberg.

2024 Competition FINAL – Curtis Phill Hsu   

Interlude spoke to Vanessa Latarche, Artistic Director of HIPC, about the pleasures and challenges of managing an international piano competition, and what she and her fellow jurors are looking forward to in this year’s competition:

‘The pleasures include hearing fabulous music played by young people who are at the very top of their game, working with distinguished colleagues and the HIPC team to support young musicians. It is a particular pleasure to work with Steinway & Sons, who provide and prepare the beautiful instruments for the competition and look after them carefully throughout. We’re also very lucky to work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – it’s such a draw for the young pianists who reach the finals to be able to perform with one of the world’s truly great orchestras.

The challenges are many, including fundraising, audience building and logistics of arrangements in the seaside town of Hastings on the south coast of England.

We’re looking forward to hearing the array of talent we have, to hearing so many piano concertos with both orchestras and to hearing how the competitors handle the Stephen Hough piece and how they plan their programmes. And of course, to finding worthy winners who we will support long after the competition with engagements, mentoring and advice – we look forward to seeing them flourish!’

HIPC offers a prize package worth approximately £35,000, which includes career development opportunities, professional engagements (such as a recital at London’s Wigmore Hall and a concert with the Royal Philharmonic), and mentoring support. The competition is generously supported by Steinway & Sons and numerous sponsors and benefactors, including the Kowitz Family Foundation, which has supported the competition since 2009.

HIPC Music in the Meadow

Beyond the main competition, Hastings International Piano engages in education outreach and community activities through its Learning & Participation programme, bringing classical music to all – from school workshops and community concerts to pop-up pianos across the town and free tickets to the competition for community groups. For aspiring pianists of any age or ability level, Music in the Meadow is an opportunity to showcase the musical talents of the people of Hastings. A grand piano is installed in the Priory Meadow shopping centre, giving everyone the chance to play.

The competition opens on 26 February, and all initial rounds are free for the public to watch.

Find out more at https://hastingsinternationalpiano.org/.

The Enduring Melody: The Significance of Childhood Piano Memories

 by Frances Wilson  February 4th, 2026

Do you remember the first piece of music you learnt as a child?

Girl playing the piano

The journey of learning to play the piano is a great deal more than the acquisition of a skill; it’s a wonderful voyage of memory and emotion. The memories of piano pieces learned during childhood or as students often linger in our minds – and indeed our fingers – creating a mosaic of experiences and memories that extend far beyond the piano keyboard.

As musicians, we can easily relate to this – the memories of those pieces – where we learned them, with whom, and who taught us – and these memories only deepen with time.

Music learned in our formative years often carries an emotional resonance that transcends the notes and rhythms. The melodies become intertwined with the memories of our youth, evoking nostalgia. These pieces serve as sonic bookmarks in the chapters of our lives, preserving the emotions felt during each practice session and performance. Looking back through old scores can create a “Proustian rush” of memories: my old ABRSM edition of Bach’s ‘48’, replete with my then teacher’s annotations, takes me back to piano lessons in the early 1980s, when I was an eager, precocious teenager. My then teacher had a big black Steinway grand in her living room, and her two dogs, a shaggy, rather smelly Old English Sheepdog, and a ginger spaniel, would sit under the piano’s belly as I played.

J.S. Bach’s Preludes and Fugues

The process of learning and memorising piano pieces demands a high level of cognitive engagement. The brain forms intricate connections between motor skills, auditory processing, and memory recall during the practice and repetition required to master a piece. These cognitive networks established in childhood persist into adulthood, contributing to enhanced cognitive abilities, including improved memory, attention, and spatial-temporal skills. The act of memorisation itself becomes a mental exercise that strengthens neural pathways, leaving an indelible mark on our cognitive development.

Learning music involves acquiring a unique musical language. The ability to interpret and reproduce intricate patterns of sound develops a deep understanding of musical structures, harmonies, and phrasing. This early exposure to the language of music lays a foundation for future musical endeavours. Whether one continues to pursue a musical career or simply enjoys music as a listener, the memories of piano pieces learned in youth contribute to a lifelong appreciation and fluency in the language of music.

Piano pieces often serve as gateways to cultural and artistic heritage. Many students are introduced to classical compositions that have withstood the test of time, and which form what is known as the “core canon” of classical piano. The ability to play and internalise these timeless pieces connects one to a broader cultural context and fosters a sense of continuity with the past. These musical memories become part of one’s artistic identity, influencing not only how one perceives and engages with music but also how one expresses oneself creatively across various aspects of life.

The memories of piano pieces learned in childhood or as students persist not only as musical recollections but also as integral components of our cognitive, emotional, and creative selves. Woven into the fabric of our formative years, these memories accompany us through life, resonating with music’s unique ability to evoke emotions, enhance cognitive abilities, and contribute to our cultural and artistic identity.

As we navigate the symphony of life, the enduring melodies of our piano memories serve as a constant reminder of music’s transformative power.

Pianists and Their Composers: Franz Liszt

by Frances Wilson 

Franz Liszt divides opinion. For some he is regarded as one of the greatest pianist-composers of the Romantic era; for others, he is a showman and a charlatan who wrote vulgar, showy music.

3D rendering of Franz Liszt by Hadi Karimi

In fact, he was a remarkable musician and human being. Sure, as a performer he could be flamboyant and extravagant in his gestures, but he helped shape the modern solo piano concert as we know it today and he also brought a great deal of music to the public realm through his transcriptions (he transcribed Beethoven’s symphonies for solo piano, thus making this repertoire accessible to both concert artists and amateur pianists to play at home). He was an advocate of new music and up-and-coming composers and lent his generous support to people like Richard Wagner (who married Liszt’s daughter Cosima).

His piano music combines technical virtuosity and emotional depth. It’s true that some of his output is showy – all virtuosic flourishes for the sake of virtuosity – but his suites such as the Années de Pèlerinage or the Transcendental Etudes, and his transcriptions of Schubert songs demonstrate the absolute apogee of art, poetry, and beauty combined.

Martha Argerich

Martha Argerich

Martha Argerich brings fire and fluency to her interpretations, underpinned by a remarkable technical assuredness. Her 1972 recording of the B-minor Sonata and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 is regarded as “legendary”.

Leslie Howard

Leslie Howard

Australian Leslie Howard is the only pianist to have recorded the solo piano music of Liszt, a project which includes some 300 premiere recordings, and he is rightly regarded as a specialist of this repertoire who has brought much of Liszt’s lesser-known music to the fore.  

Lazar Berman

Lazar Berman

Berman’s 1977 recording of the Années de Pèlerinage remains the benchmark recording of this repertoire for many. Berman brings sensibility and grandeur, warm-heartedness, and mastery to this remarkable set of pieces.

Alim Beisembayev

Alim Beisembayev

Winner of the 2021 Leeds International Piano Competition, the young Armenian pianist Alim Beisembayev’s debut recording of the complete Transcendental Etudes is remarkable for its spellbinding polish, precision, and musical maturity, all supported by superb technique.  

Yuja Wang

Yuja Wang

Yuja Wang has been praised for her breath-taking interpretations of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto which combine force and filigree, emotional depth, and technical mastery to create thrilling and insightful performances.

On My Music Desk…… Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – ‘Deep River’

by Frances Wilson 

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Deep river, my home is over Jordan;
Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground.
Oh don’t you want to go to that gospel feast,
that Promised Land where all is peace?
Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground.

African-American Spiritual

“What Brahms has done for the Hungarian folk music, Dvořák for the Bohemian, and Grieg for the Norwegian, I have tried to do for these Negro Melodies.” – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer  

There is something reminiscent of Brahms’ writing for the piano in the melody, harmonies and textures of Deep River, one of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 24 Negro Melodies, and if you didn’t know it was by this English mixed-race composer, you might mistake it for a lesser-known work by the great German romantic.

‘Deep River’ is a song about crossing boundaries, physical and metaphorical. Through the richness of the music’s textures, its simple yet memorable melody and its contrasting episodes – from serenity to restless drama – the composer suggests both the physical breadth and depth of a great river, and actual and ideological divides between peoples.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in London in 1875 and showed early musical promise. He took violin lessons from a young age and studied at the Royal College of Music from the age of 15, initially under Charles Villiers Stanford (who also taught Gustav Holst, Rebecca Clarke, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, amongst others). He was later helped by Edward Elgar. His most significant work is ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast’, a cantata inspired by the poem by Longfellow and recognised alongside Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’, but he also wrote song settings (including a setting of ‘Kubla Khan’ by his near-namesake, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge), and chamber works.    

© Alfred Music

‘Deep River’ is one of the best-known spirituals; Coleridge-Taylor first encountered it in a performance by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African-American acapella ensemble, which he heard in concert when they visited London. Coleridge-Taylor sought to integrate traditional African music into the classical tradition, not unlike Brahms and Dvořák in their use of Eastern European and American folk music idioms in their works. ‘Deep River’ is one of 24 Negro Melodies Transcribed for the Piano, which Coleridge-Taylor published in 1905. In general, he did not use entire folk melodies in his compositions, preferring to create fantasies based on the original melody. In ‘Deep River’, the composer uses only the first four bars of the song, and dispenses with the verse-chorus-verse organisation – though fragments of the main melody return throughout the piece.

The music opens with hushed, arpeggiated chords and the timeless melody, but it quickly moves into more ambiguous harmonic territory, and at this point becomes more redolent of Brahms. The next section departs from the original in its fantasy-like treatment of the original melody, with ornamentation and considerable expressive elements. This is followed by a dramatic interlude of up-tempo octaves, almost a fanfare, before a brief return to the original melody, and a modulation into A-flat major.

The octave fanfare returns, and the music gradually subsides, in both volume and speed, before returning to the opening melody, in the original key of E major. The piece ends in a rather Lisztian fashion, with rolling E major arpeggios, marked pianissimo, and two hushed chords.

For the pianist, the music has much scope for expression and generous use of rubato will only add to the emotional power of the piece. Treat it like a late Brahms Intermezzo, with close attention not only to the main melody but also the interior details, and you have a work of great romanticism and richness.

How music is catalogued

by Frances Wilson  

The autograph manuscript of Schubert’s Impromptu in f minor, Deutsch 935 No. 1

To help identify and organise pieces of music by a particular composer, individual compositions or sets of works are usually given an “Opus” number. The word “opus” is Latin and means “work” or “work of art”, often abbreviated as “Op.”, or “Opp.” in the plural. The practice of assigning an “opus number” to a work or set of works when the work or set was published began in the seventeenth century. Opus numbers were not usually used in chronological order and did not necessarily denote when a work was actually composed. Unpublished works often were left without opus numbers.

From the 1800s onwards, Beethoven in particular assigned opus numbers to individual works and sets (including piano pieces, songs and other short works) as they were completed and published: low opus numbers indicate early works, while high opus numbers (for example, the Piano Sonata Opus 110) are works composed and published at the end of Beethoven’s life. Works published posthumously were also assigned high opus numbers, while some works were not given an opus number at all, and were later catalogued in the 1950s as WoO (Werke ohne opus/”works without opus number”). These include the three ‘Electoral’ piano sonatas, written when Beethoven was a very young man, which are not usually included with the main body of the 32 Piano Sonatas (Opus 2 to Opus 111).

Ralph Kirkpatrick

Not all music has an opus number. The music of Bach is given a ‘BWV’ number, which is an abbreviation of “Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis” (literally, “directory of Bach’s works”), and was the cataloguing system for Bach’s music used by Wolfgang Smieder in the 1950s.

Similarly, Mozart’s music is catalogued with “K numbers” from the name of the cataloguer, Köchel. A low K number indicates a piece written when Mozart was very young, while a high number indicates a piece written at the end of his life. Some people know the works by their K numbers alone (a friend of mine has a remarkable knowledge of Mozart’s works by their individual K numbers).

Ralph Kirkpatrick catalogued the numerous works of Domenico Scarlatti in a facsimile edition, and so these pieces are also given a K number, usually written “Kk” to distinguish it from Mozart’s Köchel number. To make matters slightly more confusing, Scarlatti’s works also have a “Longo number” after Alessandro Longo’s edition for the piano. The Kk and Longo numbers do not correspond, which can make identifying a particular work by Scarlatti tricky; fortunately, there are tables of Kk and Longo numbers available online to help clear up such discrepancies.

Confused? Read on…..

Haydn’s works are generally referred to by their Hob or Hoboken numbers, after the cataloguer Anthony von Hoboken’s classification, though some have Opus numbers alone. The works are also grouped into categories, for example, I for symphonies, or XVI for the piano sonatas. The Piano Sonatas have both a work number and a Hob. number, which, like the works of Scarlatti, make identification more confusing.

Schubert’s works have both Opus and “Deutsch” numbers (after Otto Erich Deutsch’s catalogue). The first set of Impromptus for piano, for example, are both Opus 90 and D899. (I tend to refer to Schubert’s piano music by its D number, because that is how I have always known it.)

Music specialists and academics often also refer to the “autographed score” or “autograph version”. These are original scores, written out by the composer, or transcribed by an assistant, and represent the first finished version, and are important historical documents in the scholarship of a particular composer’s works (over the years, music is subjected to editing; in recent years, scholars have gone back to autographed editions to better understand the composer’s original intentions or to clear up questions of attribution or interpretation). Very occasionally, an original autographed score will come to light, which was previously thought to be lost, or non-existent, which can create a lot of excitement amongst music specialists and academics, as well as fetching significant sums at auction. In 2009, researchers unearthed two pieces of music thought to have been written by Mozart when he was still a boy, and in 2012 a ‘new’ piece by Mozart was premiered, after an autographed notebook was found in the attic of a house in Austria.

Piano Music for Springtime

by Frances Wilson, Interlude

Springtime – the turning of the season, the weather growing milder and the days longer, the first fresh buds of blossom appearing – is fertile territory for musical inspiration, as this selection of piano pieces inspired by Spring or emblematic of its reveal:

Christian Sinding: Rustle of Spring

Perhaps the most famous piano piece about Springtime, this late Romantic miniature suggests nature waking up after the long, dark winter and the hope which accompanies the new season in rippling (‘rustling’) semiquavers with a flowing melody beneath. It has a Wagnerian flavour in the way the composer repeats phrases a step higher each time, creating a sense of increased energy and drama.

Tchaikovsky: March (Song of the Lark) and April (Snowdrop)

By contrast to the joyous outpouring of the Rustle of Spring, March, from Tchaikovsky’s suite The Seasons, reminds us that the chill of winter still lingers in the air, with a poignant melody evoking birdsong – the song of the lark – and an introspective mood. April is more cheerful – a whimsical little waltz which suggests the weather is definitely growing warmer as snowdrops and other flowers appear.

Doug Thomas: March from The Seasons

This piece was written for me as part of a project which paid homage to Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons. 12 pieces were composed for 12 pianists who submitted their own recordings which were then mastered into an album. Although in a minor key, the mood of this piece, with its chirruping, pulsing rhythm and cascading arpeggios in the upper register of the piano, suggests nature bursting into life in all its colourful glory after the gloom of winter.  Thomas Official · 03 March (with Frances Wilson)

Pēteris Vasks: Pavasara Muzika (Spring Music)

Another piece from a suite of piano pieces evoking the seasons, Spring Music by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks is a 20-minute reflection on that season rather than a depiction of it, though it contains many evocative motifs which suggest birdsong, spring breezes and a sense of the world growing green again after the stark white scenery (the first piece in Vasks’ cycle) of winter. And while his White Scenery is a minimalist reflection on winter, Spring Music is florid, virtuosic and at times highly dramatic, before subsiding into slower, more meditative passages.

Schubert (arr. Liszt): Die Forelle (The Trout)

Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet is definitely springlike in its carefree melodies and joyful atmosphere, and this transcription for solo piano by Franz Liszt – with its rippling accompaniments and optimistic character – is a virtuosic evocation of the new season. 

Rachel Grimes: Every Morning Birds from The Book of Leaves

Although not specifically about Spring time, this piano miniature by contemporary American composer Rachel Grimes definitely has a flavour of that season with its opening passage of actual birdsong and tracery of treble notes, interspersed with decorative motifs which suggest the chirruping of birds.

Pianists and Their Composers: Chopin

by Frances Wilson, Interlude

The music of Frédéric Chopin is perennially popular – it has never lost its universal appeal and Chopin remains one of the greatest composers for the piano. Virtuosic, imaginative, and emotionally profound, Chopin’s music offers pianists a wealth of expressivity, requiring a combination of superior technique, which always serves the music (rather than as an end in itself), refined touch, a beautiful cantabile (singing) tone, highly nuanced dynamic shading, supple phrasing and rubato, and an appreciation of the interior architecture of this multi-layered music. Chopin is also symbolic of Poland, the country of his birth, whose musical idioms are evident in almost all his music, most obviously, the Mazurkas and Polonaises.

Frédéric Chopin

When asked, the great Chopin player Arthur Rubinstein could not explain why Chopin’s music spoke to him, but like the music of J.S. Bach (which Chopin greatly admired and studied), it expresses universal humanity which, combined with a certain vulnerability, speaks to so many of us, and on many different levels.

Arthur Rubinstein

Arthur Rubinstein

“When the first notes of Chopin sound through the concert hall there is a happy sign of recognition. All over the world men and women know his music. They love it. They are moved by it. When I play Chopin I know I speak directly to the hearts of people.”

An unrivalled authority and one of the greatest interpreters of the music of Chopin, Rubinstein brought great dignity and refinement to the music, avoided unnecessary mannerisms and sentimentality, and revealed the structural logic of Chopin’s writing. His playing is memorable for its elegant vocal phrasing, beauty of tone, and natural yet sophisticated shaping.

Arthur Rubinstein Plays Chopin’s Polonaise in A Flat Major, Op.53 

Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti playing at his last recital © Michel Meusy

“A master of the keyboard” (Harold C Schonberg), Dinu Lipatti was the pupil of an older Chopin master, Alfred Cortot.

Lipatti’s immaculate performances of the waltzes, in particular, are spontaneous, light and nimble, lyrical and suitably dancing, with subtle rubato and great charm.

Maria João Pires

Maria João Pires © classicosdosclassicos.mus.br

“It’s very inner music and very deep,” Maria João Pires has said of Chopin. For her, he is “the deep poet of music”. That depth is really evident in Pires’ playing of the Nocturnes – intimate, refined and passionate, her interpretations eschew drawing room night-time sentimentality and capture all the drama and emotional intensity of these much-loved pieces.

Maurizio Pollini

Maurizio Pollini

Described by one critic as “the greatest Chopin player to have emerged from Italy since the Second World War”, Maurizio Pollini’s association with Chopin goes right back to the beginning of his professional career when he won the Chopin Competition in Warsaw when he was just 18. His unsentimental, cultivated interpretations are notable for their clarity of expression, perfectly judged poetry, and close attention to the bel canto melodic lines which make Chopin’s music so immediately appealing.

Alfred Cortot

Alfred Cortot © Commentary

Cortot is one of the most celebrated Chopin interpreters, combining flawless technique with a deep appreciation of the structure, voicing, and textures of Chopin’s music. His recordings are acclaimed to this day, and his detailed, annotated editions of Chopin’s music remain highly prized among pianists and teachers.

Janina Fialkowska

Janina Fialkowska

Hailed by her mentor Arthur Rubinstein as “a born Chopin interpreter”, Polish-Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska captures the soul of Chopin, in particular in her performances of the Mazurkas, works which reveal Chopin’s patriotism and innermost sentiments towards his homeland. Fialkowska is sensitive to both the humble, peasant origins of the Mazurka and Chopin’s elevation of the genre into concert pieces. She really captures the poetry, poignancy, and whimsical emotions of these Polish folk dances, and her rubato is perfectly judged, especially important in these pieces where suppleness of pace lends greater emphasis to the emotional depth of the music.