“The 25th Hour” 3-day course with Florian Mitrea – Upper Intermediate – Advanced – WAITING LIST

Upper Intermediate – Advanced pianists will jump at the chance to have the opportunity to spend three days discovering The 25th Hour: practising and playing the piano for busy lives with extremely popular Finchcocks tutor, Florian Mitrea. Below, Florian describes his plan for group sessions, helping guests to get the most out of time at the piano in today’s busy, modern life.

This course is aimed at around grade 7 and beyond.

Modern life is busy. Careers, families, responsibilities, travel, and endless demands on our time often leave pianists feeling frustrated by the gap between their musical ambitions and the hours available to achieve them. Yet meaningful progress is not reserved for those who can practise four or five hours a day. This three-day course is designed for upper intermediate and advanced pianists who want to make every minute at the keyboard count.

Through workshops, performance classes, private lessons, demonstrations, and discussion, we will explore how to learn more efficiently, practise more creatively, and build a sustainable approach to long-term improvement. Participants will discover strategies used by professional musicians to accelerate learning, solve technical problems, and maintain progress even during the busiest periods of life.

By the end of the course, participants will have developed a more structured and efficient approach to practice; learned how to organise and prioritise their musical goals; gained tools for learning new repertoire more quickly and securely; improved their ability to identify and solve technical and musical problems independently; developed greater confidence in preparing performances and examinations; and created a personalised practice framework that can fit realistically into even the busiest schedule.

Preparation

No specific preparation is required. Participants are encouraged to bring one or two pieces they are currently studying, particularly works that present challenges in learning, memorisation, technique, interpretation, or performance. These pieces may provide useful material for discussion during lessons, performance classes, and workshops. The course is designed to focus on practical strategies rather than specific repertoire, ensuring that every participant can immediately apply the ideas explored to their own musical projects.

Formal tuition takes place in interactive workshops, performance classes and one-to-one lessons. Workshop topics will include:

• Workshop I – Learn faster: creative practising

  How do great pianists learn so much music so quickly? Experience does play a role, but there is also method. This practical workshop explores the process of learning a new piece from the very first reading through to confident performance. Together we will examine proven strategies for decoding scores, identifying challenges, building secure technique, and avoiding the common traps that waste valuable practice time. Participants will be given short, unfamiliar pieces and practical tasks before heading to the practice rooms to experiment with different learning methods. On returning, we will compare results, discuss discoveries, and identify which approaches produced the most effective outcomes. This workshop is about learning how to learn.

• Workshop II – Maximum reward, minimum hours: choosing repertoire wisely

  Not every masterpiece requires six months of preparation. One of the most important yet overlooked skills for pianists is choosing repertoire wisely. This workshop explores a wealth of rewarding music that delivers artistic satisfaction without demanding endless practice hours. We will examine repertoire choices for advanced amateurs, discuss how to balance ambition with practicality, and consider how thoughtful programming can accelerate musical development. We will also look at pathways towards performance goals such as Grades 7-8 and Diploma examinations, discussing how repertoire can be selected strategically to maximise progress, enjoyment, and success.

• Workshop III – Ask Anything. A piano problem-solving clinic

  Every pianist faces obstacles. Some are technical. Some are musical. Some are organisational. Most are surprisingly common. This open clinic provides an opportunity for participants to bring their questions, challenges, frustrations, and curiosities for collective discussion. Topics might include technical difficulties, memorisation, performance anxiety, motivation, examination preparation, injury prevention, repertoire choices, interpretation, practice planning, or balancing piano study with professional and family life. Through demonstrations, discussion, and practical examples at the piano, we will work together to find solutions and create a shared toolbox of ideas that every participant can take home. Often the question one person asks turns out to be exactly what everyone else wanted to know.

As usual, everyone will have access to their own grand piano for the weekend – including our new Steinway – and have plenty of time to practise in our vaulted piano cellar. There are enough pianos for everyone, with no need to book in a particular practice session slot.

Chopin in B Minor

Saturday evenings are often the highlight of our weekend courses. Guests have the opportunity to experience an intimate salon concert in the family’s main hall, relaxing with a glass of wine, the open fire and listening to inspirational playing from their tutor.

Florian’s evening recital explores two of Chopin’s most dramatic and compelling masterpieces: the Scherzo No. 1 in B minor and the Sonata No. 3 in B minor. Together these works reveal the astonishing range of Chopin’s musical imagination, from explosive virtuosity and restless passion to moments of profound lyricism and intimacy. The Scherzo confronts us with turbulence, brilliance, and defiance, while the Third Sonata stands among the crowning achievements of the Romantic piano repertoire, a work of extraordinary sophistication, emotional depth, and architectural mastery.

And of course, it goes without saying that you can expect the usual!

Guests will:

• Have the chance to play in and observe two performance masterclasses.
• Will receive one-to-one lessons with Florian.
• Enjoy access to play on our 9 grand pianos anytime between 7am and 8pm.
• Experience a salon-style concert performed by Florian exclusively for guests.
• Have the chance to take part in a recital on the Bosendorfer in the main hall of the family home.
• 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.

This is a unique, luxury UK-based piano gem and an experience that you won’t forget anytime soon. Many guests continue friendships made on these courses, encouraging each other on in the piano playing on Whatsapp, organising private piano meet ups further down the line… and bumping into each other again on future courses!

For booking enquiries, please fill in the form below.