Back by very popular demand, this will be our fourth Chopin weekend here at Finchcocks with Warren Mailley-Smith.

Chopin’s lyrical and elegant Nocturnes and Preludes are firm favourites with our intermediate and advanced players, and so we’re very excited to announce the return of our very popular first composer-specific weekend.

We’re incredibly lucky to have secured the services of Warren Mailley-Smith for this course. In 2016, Warren became the first British pianist to perform Chopin’s complete works for solo piano from memory at a series of concerts at St John Smith’s Square in London, a feat which involved memorising 3.5 million notes!

Over the course of the weekend, Warren will explore and demonstrate both the technical aspects of playing Chopin’s music, as well as sessions on how to perform Chopin’s music to the best of our ability.

He’ll explain why Chopin sounds like Chopin and show us how Chopin intended us to play his pieces. In the masterclass sessions, we’ll look at developing phrasing and articulation, with plenty of tips on performance and how to polish our pieces and make them sound as natural and elegant as possible.

Workshop titles will include:

• The importance of “cantabile” in piano playing
• The art of pedalling

Guests will also:

• Have the chance to play in and observe two performance masterclasses.
• Will receive a one-to-one lesson with Warren.
• Enjoy access to play on our 9 grand pianos anytime between 7am and 8pm. (There are enough pianos to go round that everyone can play a piano at any given time.)
• Experience a private recital for course participants in the main hall of the family home, performed by Warren.
• Join and socialise with a group 8 fellow piano enthusiasts during lunch and dinner.
• Dine in style with lunches and three course dinners prepared by our fabulous chef.
• Experience the Finchcocks bubble, hailed as a “paradise for pianists” by BBC Music Magazine and stay in a grade 1 listed country manor.

Plus ones are very welcome on our courses, with a room surcharge dependant on whether they are a playing or non-playing guest. Please ask for further details.

You can see Warren in action at Finchcocks when he did a recording session with Classic FM recently.

In the evening on Saturday, Warren will give a talk and recital on Chopin, combining music from various points in his life with a biographical commentary that will help us understand the underlying emotions found in Chopin’s music.

There can be few people in the world more qualified to talk to us about memorisation, so Warren will also run a session on techniques for memorising pieces and how it can be useful when learning and developing your repertoire.

In between the workshop and masterclass sessions there will be time for private practise on one of our beautiful grand pianos including our new Steinway. During these sessions, Warren will drop in to each of the practice rooms to provide individual pointers and tips.

The course is intended for intermediate to advanced players who are keen to bring their favourite works by Chopin to life. It might well be that there’s a prelude that you’ve been struggling with for years that you would desperately like to perfect, or equally there might be a Waltz that you have always wanted to play, but haven’t yet had the chance to really work on. Budding Chopin devotees, this is your moment!

For booking enquiries, please contact us on 01580 428080 or fill in the form below.