The Romantic Community weekend with Daniel Grimwood – Upper Intermediate – Advanced
The nineteenth century’s great pianist-composers formed a remarkably interconnected musical world. As colleagues, rivals, champions and critics, figures such as Liszt, Chopin, Henselt and their contemporaries shaped one another’s artistic development, exchanging ideas through performance, teaching, composition and personal friendship. Drawing on current research, this course explores some of the relationships, influences and musical connections that helped define the golden age of piano playing.
Led by concert pianist and research associate of 19th century piano performance at the University of York, Daniel Grimwood, will offer insight into the Romantic Community and its relevance to the modern performer playing romantic repertoire today.
As broad the repertoire, so the ability required to play it! This course suits anyone from Upper Intermediate level through to Diploma+.
Afternoons are spent exploring and enjoying each other’s repertoire, applying newly gained knowledge during performance classes – as well as some private practice on one of our beautiful grand pianos! During these sessions, Daniel will give one-to-one lessons on our new Steinway to provide individual pointers and tips.
“He has all the velocity and firepower, and then some.” ~ BBC Magazine.
On Saturday evening, guests can sit back and relax in the main hall of the family home and enjoy a performance by Steven himself. This is an opportunity to hear an artist regularly featured on BBC Radio 3 perform an exclusive private concert in a relaxed setting. An inspirational treat not to be missed!
Guests will also:
- Have the chance to play in and observe two performance masterclasses.
- Will receive a one-to-one lesson with Daniel.
- 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 accompanied talk for course participants in the main hall of the family home, performed by Daniel.
- 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.
“Daniel Grimwood, fast making a name for himself as an original and discriminating musician” ~ Gramophone
“Probably the finest all‐round musician I have ever known” – Felix Aprahamian
With a repertoire ranging from Elizabethan Virginal music to the works of living composers, Daniel enjoys a solo and chamber career which has taken him around the globe, performing in many of the most prestigious concert platforms, including the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room in London, Saffron Hall, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Symphony Hall Birmingham, the Sage Gateshead, the Three Choirs Festival, the Rachmaninoff and Gnessin Halls in Moscow, the Carnegie Hall in New York, as well as venues in Germany, Austria, Italy, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Estonia, Taiwan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Lebanon and Oman.
His musical interest started as a 3-year-old playing next door’s piano in Kent, and by the age of 7 he was performing in front of audiences. His training continued with Graham Fitch at the Purcell School, where he also studied violin, viola and composition, giving him a broad appreciation of classical music, and later with Vladimir Ovchinnikov and Peter Feuchtwanger.
Daniel is a passionate about all keyboard instruments old and new, and has given a recital of Chopin’s Etudes on the composer’s own Pleyel piano.
His discs of Liszt and Chopin, performed on an 1851 Erard piano, received a unanimous chorus of praise from the press; the Liszt album was Daily Telegraph CD of the week and Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine. He was the first artist to record on the Edition Peters Sounds label, the complete Fauré Nocturnes album was released to excellent reception in The Sunday Times, which was followed by a disc of solo piano works by Adolph von Henselt, described as “a blizzard of dazzling pianism” by the Observer. His most recent release is a disc of Doreen Carwithen and William Alwyn, also on Edition Peters Sounds, and his account of the complete Henselt Etudes will be released later this year.
As editor Daniel is currently preparing editions of John Field and Adolph von Henselt for Edition Peters.
Daniel regularly performs on live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, and has been featured in BBC Four’s TV documentary series “Revolution and Romance”.
Away from the piano, Daniel is a keen runner, member of Paddock Wood Athletic Club and guardian of Bartok the Hungarian Visla.
For booking enquiries, please fill in the form below.
