|
Jury for the 2007 Competition
Gordon Fergus-Thompson
(Chairman)
John Humphreys
Margaret Fingerhut
William Fong
Mark Bebbington
Michael Seal (Final stage only)
Introducing our panel of
distinguished Judges
|
|
|
Gordon
Fergus
Thompson |
John
Humphreys |
Margaret
Fingerhut |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
William
Fong |
Mark
Bebbington |
Michael
Seal |

 |
Gordon Fergus Thompson
Gordon Fergus-Thompson’s award
winning interpretations of French Impressionist and
Russian Romantic piano music have been much acclaimed
throughout the European Press.Following a sensational
debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1976 he firmly established
himself as a major recitalist and concerto player,
appearing as soloist with the Philharmonia, English
Chamber Orchestra, Götenburg Symphony, Residente
Orchestra of the Hague, CBSO, RLPO, Hallé,
|
Bournemouth and all
the BBC Symphony Orchestras,with such conductors as Evgeni
Svetlanov, Jacek Kaspszyk, Sir Edward Downes, Helmut Müller-Brühl,
Mosche Atzmon, David Atherton and Sir Charles Groves.
He has appeared in all the
major halls in London and Paris, given over two hundred broadcast
recitals on BBC Radio 3 and toured extensively in the UK,
France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic, Australia
and the Far East.
Gordon Fergus-Thompson is presently
recording the complete works of Scriabin for ASV and has now
completed 6 of the 8 volumes. His complete sets of Debussy
and Ravel are already in the catalogue.
Further to his UK appearances
this season, Gordon Fergus-Thompson returns to the USA for
his third lecture-recital.
Gordon Fergus-Thompson won
the prestigious MRA ‘Best Instrumental Recording of
the Year’ award in successive years, namely 1991 and
1992, in the first instance for his outstanding complete works
of Debussy, and in the second, for Volume 1 of the complete
works of Scriabin.
Gordon is Professor of Piano
at the Royal College of Music.
Reviews:
“Fergus-Thompson once
again turning in performances comparable to Richter and Horowitz
...that is to say, performances comparable with the best that
history has to offer.”
FANFARE USA
"Gordon Fergus-Thompson
is your man. Even the most experienced Ravelians will find
themselves returning to these finely recorded accounts for
a special and magical enlightenment.”
BRYCE MORRISON, GRAMOPHONE
(Debussy Preludes)
“I have never heard a
recorded version that approaches these performances in terms
of musical insight and sheer atmosphere. Fergus-Thompson’s
range of tone colour, and control of dynamic and texture are
nothing short of transcendental, and his inspired use of the
sustaining pedal is really something to marvel at.”
JULIAN HAYLOCK, CD REVIEW

 |
John Humphreys
John Humphreys was born in Liverpool
and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and in Vienna.
He made his Wigmore Hall debut in 1972 and since then
has played extensively throughout the UK, abroad and
for BBC Radio 3 in a repertoire that extends from
Bach's 'Goldberg' Variations through the complete
Mozart Sonatas and Beethoven's 'Diabelli' Variations
to Busoni's rarely heard 'Fantasia Contrappuntistica'.
His recording (with Allan Schiller) of the two
piano music of Ferrucio Busoni was issued in 2005 by
Naxos (8.557443). He is at present Assistant
Head of Keyboard Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire
|
|

|
Margaret
Fingerhut
Margaret Fingerhut has performed in many
different countries and has become well-known for her
innovative and entertaining recital programmes which
combine popular and unusual repertoire. As a concerto
soloist she has played with all the UK’s major orchestras,
working with eminent conductors such as Vernon Handley,
Rudolf Barshai, Leonard Slatkin, Paul Daniel and Sir
Edward Downes, and performing in venues such as the
Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican.
She is often heard on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM, and
her film and television work has included an appearance
in “Testimony”, Tony Palmer’s film about Shostakovich.
|
A Chandos artist, Margaret’s extensive
discography has received worldwide critical acclaim. Her numerous
discs include works by Bax, Berkeley, Bloch, Dukas, Falla,
Grieg, Howells, Leighton, Novak, Stanford and Suk. Many have
been selected as the Gramophone’s Critics’ Choice, and two
of her Bax recordings - the Octet with the Academy of St.
Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble and the Concertante
for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra with Vernon Handley and
the BBC Philharmonic - were short-listed for Gramophone awards.
She was also the soloist in the world premiere recording of
Percy Young’s arrangement of Elgar’s sketches for his Piano
Concerto slow movement, with the Munich Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Douglas Bostock.
Margaret Fingerhut was a visiting tutor of piano
at the Royal Northern College of Music for a number of years,
and she is currently a visiting artist at the Birmingham Conservatoire.
She is much sought after to give masterclasses and workshops
at music colleges and schools throughout the UK; her teaching
at the Dartington International Summer School has been described
by “The Spectator” magazine as demonstrating “enormous skill
and sympathy”. She has also been an adjudicator for the BBC
Young Musician of the Year on several occasions. In the USA
Margaret was elected a National Arts Associate of Sigma Alpha
Iota in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the
arts.
In addition to her performing and teaching,
Margaret has also written articles for magazines such as Classical
Music, Pianist and Piano Professional.

 |
William
Fong
Internationally renowned pianist William
Fong regularly performs with the world's leading orchestras,
and in recital.
In the UK he has performed at all London's major venues
and his concerts have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3,
Classic FM, and BBC television.
|
International performances have
taken place in New York, Moscow and St Petersburg (under the
auspices of the Sviatoslav Richter Foundation), and across
France and Spain. His concerts have also been broadcast on
television and on radio in Europe and the US.
Most recently, William was given support by The Arts Council
to travel to China to give a recital and lead a week of masterclasses
in Shanghai.
William first came to international attention in 1984 when
he won the first prize, gold medal and Rosa Sabater prize
at the Concurso Internacional de Piano in Jaén, Spain. This
proved to be the first of many such successes, to which he
has since added the Busoni, Cleveland, Iturbi, and Scottish
International Competitions.
St. John's Smith Square was the venue for William's London
concerto début with the Philharmonia Orchestra which took
place soon after that first win.
William is also a chamber musician, and has performed with
ensembles such as the Brodsky Quartet and members of Guildhall
Strings. He has also collaborated with singers Steve Davislim
and James Rutherford and continues to work with young artists
who have an exciting commitment to chamber music.
When he is not performing, William is an active and successful
teacher who is in demand for masterclasses and adjudication
in the UK and overseas. He is also a Professor at the Royal
Academy of Music and Head of Keyboard at the Purcell School.
William's CD recordings are available on Olympia and Guild
Records.


|
Mark Bebbington
The critical acclaim
which has greeted Mark Bebbington's recent performances
and recordings has singled him out as a young British
pianist of the rarest refinement and maturity. Increasingly
recognised as a champion of British music, Mark has
recorded extensively for SOMM "New Horizons"
label to unanimous critical acclaim. |
The critical acclaim which
has greeted Mark Bebbington's recent performances and recordings
has singled him out as a young British pianist of the rarest
refinement and maturity. Increasingly recognised as a champion
of British music, Mark has recorded extensively for SOMM "New
Horizons" label to unanimous critical acclaim.
His latest release of solo
piano works by Frank Bridge has earned him a ***** rating
and Instrumental Choice in the September 2006 BBC Music Magazine.
His disc of piano music by Ivor Gurney and Howard Ferguson
has been awarded a maximum *** rating in the 2005/6 Penguin
Guide to Classical CDs, in recognition of "an outstanding
performance and recording in every way". In addition,
during summer 2005, Mark had the distinction of becoming the
first pianist to be invited to record at Birmingham's Symphony
Hall. This première series, beginning with a disc of
Schubert and a further disc of Constant Lambert and Malcolm
Arnold, was released in autumn 2006.
Over recent seasons Mark has
toured extensively throughout Central and Northern Europe
(both as recitalist and as concerto soloist with many of the
world's leading orchestras), as well as the Far East and North
Africa. Within the UK, he has appeared with the London Philharmonic
and Philharmonia Orchestras at all the major London concert
halls, and he has featured both as concerto soloist and recitalist
on BBC Television and Radio and also on Radio France. Conductors
with whom he has worked include Norman del Mar, Sir Georg
Solti, Douglas Boyd, Charles Hazlewood and William Boughton.
Recipient of numerous international
awards and prizes, including a Leverhulme Scholarship and
a Winston Churchill Fellowship, Mark studied at the Royal
College of Music with Phyllis Sellick and Kendall Taylor and
later in Italy with the legendary Aldo Ciccolini.

 |
Michael
Seal
In May 2005, the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra announced it was to appoint Michael
Seal as its Assistant Conductor, the first in its history.
. Michael had conducted the CBSO in a number of
performances previously, and impressed audiences, critics
and the Orchestra alike when he stood in for the CBSO’s
Music Director, Sakari Oramo, at extremely short notice
in December 2004, producing a dramatic interpretation
of the world premiere of Richard Causton’s Between
Two Waves of the Sea andconducting the CBSO’s
Benevolent Fund concert. |
Michael Seal was born in London
in 1970. He started learning the violin at the age of 9, going
on to study at the Birmingham Conservatoire and joining the
CBSO in September 1992. It was whilst studying at the Birmingham
Conservatoire that Michael first started conducting, learning
with Jonathan Del Mar.
In 1996, he conducted his first
concert with the Birmingham Philharmonic in Walsall. Since
then Michael has conducted them yearly in performances including
Shostakovich Symphonies 7 and 10. Berlioz Symphonie
Fantastique and Walton Symphony No.1, in venues such as Lichfield,
Shrewsbury, Leominster and Birmingham.
Michael has been Principal
conductor of the Sinfonia of Birmingham since 2002, frequently
performing concerti with CBSO members and leading them on
highly successful tours of the Rhine and Mosel valleys in
April 2002 and Tuscany in April 2004. Michael has also
conducted the Midland Concert Orchestra in highly acclaimed
performances at Dudley Town Hall.
His links with the CBSO, apart
from having coaching from their Music Director, Sakari Oramo,
have included Schools and Family concerts, giving a
performance of Lutoslawski “Chain 1” in the Amsterdam
Concertgebouw, giving a performance of Dvorak’s
Serenade at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2002, recording 3 tracks
for their promotional CD, “Classic Discoveries”
for the Birmingham Post, recording the pre-recorded element
of Caustons’ “Between Two Waves of the Sea”,
and conducting them in the CBSO Family concert at the Aldeburgh
Festival in 2005.
During the first year of his
three year tenure as Assistant Conductor, Michael has conducted
a Family concert, Schools concert and led the CBSO during
Artsfest in Centenary Square. He also conducted them last
month in Wolverhampton, followed by a Matinee concert
in Symphony Hall.Later this season he conducts another Family
concert, and a concert featuring the music of Mohammed Rafi.
Future engagements
include a tour of Holland with the Sinfonia of Birmingham
in April, further engagements with them and the Birmingham
Philharmonic during 2006/7, a CBSO Centre Stage concert featuring
the wind music of Richard Strauss, and his first evening subscription
concert with the CBSO in 2006/7.
|