DUDLEY INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION
ABOUT
The idea for a Dudley Piano Competition was first suggested in 1967 and it then evolved in 1968 from piano classes at the Dudley Festival of Music and Drama. It had a concerto final, was held annually until 1989 when it became a biennial event and from 1991 to 1995 was opened to competitors from overseas.
Many past winners including Benjamin Frith, Andrew Wilde, Graham Scott, Alicja Fiderkiewicz and Paul Lewis went on to establish successful careers and past competitors have also included internationally acclaimed pianists; Ian Hobson, Peter Donohoe, Joanna MacGregor and Timothy Horton.
The Dudley International Piano Competition then took a break until it re-emerged in 2000 as a competition with a recital final open to pianists of all nationalities studying or resident in the British Isles.
Attracting entrants of an extremely high standard from all the main colleges, its success in 2000 and 2001 dictated that it should become a regular triennial event.
For the 2009 and 2011 competitions a concerto final in Dudley with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra replaced the recital final. In 2014 and 2017 the finals were held at Symphony Hall with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra as part of their Concert Seasons.
Our next competition is on 12th and 13th November 2022, at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, with the final on 24th November 2022. Once again it will be a concerto final at the world famous Symphony Hall, Birmingham with the internationally renowned CBSO conducted by Michael Seal.
Our jury, chaired by Daniel Browell consists of distinguished pianists and teachers and can be seen below.
PRIZES 2022
Concerto performance opportunity for the three finalists at Symphony Hall, Birmingham with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
£4,000 1st Prize
(Sponsored by The Limoges Charitable Trust)
£3,000 2nd Prize
(Sponsored by Kawai Pianos)
£2,000 3rd Prize
£750 4th Prize
£250 each semi final prizes
(Sponsored by Waldrons)
Somm Debut CD Recording
(to be offered at the discretion of Siva Oke)
DANIEL BROWELL
Daniel Browell enjoys a busy and varied performing career, having given recitals in the UK, Europe and North America since receiving acclaim in the national press for his London Southbank recital in the Purcell Room in 2006. He gave his BBC Proms debut in 2008, as part of a composer portrait broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and in 2009 he made his concerto debut at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. In 2010 he returned to The Bridgewater Hall to give a solo recital as part of the Manchester Midday Concerts Society’s prestigious season.
Daniel particularly enjoys his collaborative projects with instrumentalists and singers; he has performed with YCAT winner Kathryn Rudge at the Wigmore Hall and on many occasions since, and he regularly works for the BBC Philharmonic, recently performing piano quartets in the BBC Philharmonic’s chamber music series in Salford.
His future plans include the release of a CD of contemporary British composers, featuring the piano studies of Philip Venables, which he premiered at the Purcell Room.
Daniel’s teaching experience varies from his work at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, to Yorkshire Young Musicians at Leeds College of Music and Repton School in Derbyshire. Daniel is currently Associate Head of Keyboard at Birmingham Conservatoire.
PETER DONOHOE
Peter Donohoe is acclaimed as one of the foremost pianists of our time, for his musicianship, stylistic versatility and commanding technique.
In recent seasons Donohoe has appeared with Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and Concert Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, St Petersburg Philharmonia, RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Belarusian State Symphony Orchestra, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, as well as giving concerts in many South American and European countries, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Russia, and USA.
Donohoe’s most recent discs include Tchaikovsky Solo Piano Works, which was Instrumental Choice in BBC Music Magazine, and three volumes of Mozart Piano Sonatas with SOMM Records.
Donohoe has performed with all the major London orchestras, as well as orchestras from across the world: the Royal Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Munich Philharmonic, Swedish Radio, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Vienna Symphony and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras.
Peter Donohoe is an honorary doctor of music at seven UK universities, and was awarded a CBE for services to classical music in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List.
VANESSA LATARCHE (FINAL ONLY)
After studying at the Royal College of Music and completing her training in the USA and Paris, Vanessa Latarche was an international competition prize-winner. She has performed as a soloist with international orchestras and those in the UK including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra. Her recital work has taken her to Europe, USA and to the Far East, as well as many festivals within the UK, which included Lichfield International Festival 1992 where she performed Bach’s Well- Tempered Klavier complete.
She has broadcast for the BBC for over 30 years, her most recent TV appearance being with Lucy Worsley for BBC 2’s Queen Victoria filmed at Buckingham Palace in 2019. Vanessa is the President of the Jury for Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition 2022 and has been a juror for international competitions worldwide since September 2005 Vanessa has been Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music.
With numerous international piano competition prize-winners amongst her students, Vanessa was awarded the FRCM and a Personal Chair, Professor of International Keyboard Studies.
JOHN HUMPHREYS
John Humphreys was born in Liverpool and studied with Henryk Mierowski and later with Harold Rubens at the Royal Academy of Music.
In 1967 he was awarded one of four scholarships by the Austrian Government to study in Vienna and on his return to this country made his Wigmore Hall debut in 1972 with Busoni's rarely heard 'Fantasia Contrappuntistica'. Since then he has appeared throughout the country as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician.
In 1975 he performed the cycle of Mozart piano sonatas in London and elsewhere and has given many performances of Bach's 'Goldberg Variations'. John was Assistant Head of Keyboard Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire until 2009.
He is also Chairman and Artistic Advisor to the Dudley International Piano Competition. In 1998 he was awarded the ARAM for 'his distinguished contribution to music'.
NICOLA EIMER
A graduate of the Juilliard School, British pianist Nicola Eimer has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across Europe, Asia and US, and has played at major UK venues including the Barbican and Wigmore Hall.
As a chamber musician, she regularly performs with musicians such as Johan Dalene, Adolfo Gutierrez Arenas and Fenella Humphreys. She has been a regular pianist for the IMS masterclasses in Prussia Cove, and an official accompanist for competitions such as Carl Nielsen and the Menuhin International Violin Competition.
Nicola studied in London with Danielle Salamon and later with Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music where she graduated with a Distinction. She was a Fulbright Scholar in New York as a pupil of Joseph Kalichstein.
Nicola is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, where she currently teaches at both Junior and Senior departments. She is also Head of Keyboard at Highgate School.
SIVA OKE
Siva Oke was born in Cyprus and has spent most of her life in music, either as a performer or as a listener and recording producer. She studied piano at Santa Cecilia Conservatoire, Rome and is also a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London. She has also studied with Cyril Smith whom she regards as a major musical influence in her early career as a performing pianist.
On joining the record industry for a number of years, first at Philips and then at EMI, Siva eventually left to freelance as a music producer. In the early 80s she joined the pioneering CD label Unicorn-Kanchana as General Manager, where she remained for 12 years.
SOMM Recordings, which she founded in 1995 is now a successful and well-established label with a wide-ranging catalogue of acclaimed recordings. Running SOMM as executive and recording producer has, for years, formed a major and enjoyable part of her activities.
GRAHAM LLOYD
Graham J Lloyd was born on the Wirral in 1963. He studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with the renowned Polish pianist Ryzard Bakst.
He has worked as a soloist - Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 1; chamber musician - Beethoven complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano, Schubert Trout Quintet and in particular as an accompanist to many singers. He has specialised in recording the works of his partner Ian Venables. He has recorded Venables’ music for strings and piano with members of the Coull Quartet on the SOMM label and the same composer’s complete piano music on the NAXOS label.
On his most recent recording, he is coupled with the Carducci Quartet and Roderick Williams. He combines a busy teaching career with recording, adjudicating and arranging.
MEET THE PANEL
ALLAN SCHILLER
Allan Schiller is widely regarded as one of the UK's finest pianists. Born in Leeds he studied initially with Fanny Waterman making his debut at the age of ten in a Mozart concerto with the Halle Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli. He later studied with Denis Matthews and became the first British pianist to be awarded a scholarship to study at the Moscow Conservatoire under Viktor Merzhanov.
After further study under Guido Agosti in Italy he returned to this country and rapidly established a reputation as one of the most exciting pianists of his generation with solo appearances throughout the country and concerto performances with all the major UK orchestras and the BBC Symphony Orchestras, working with a number of distinguished conductors including Sir George Solti, Bernard Haitink, Norman del Mar, Sir Malcolm Sargent and Sir Charles Mackerras.
Allan has a particular reputation as a Mozart player 'par excellence'.