Instrument - Piano

French pianist Alexandre Tharaud will be touring Europe with the Orchestre Métropolitan of Montreal and its conductor Yannick Nézét-Séguin. On a park bench in front of the Comédie française, Tharaud tells us all.

Interview which strays off the beaten track with the pianist Cyprien Katsaris, ardent defender of piano transcription and of forgotten composers.

Meet Alain Lompech, music critic and piano specialist, who for forty years has watched the development of the music scene in France and abroad.

“It’s a waste of time if you just sit there and move your fingers for the sake of practising.” Alice Sara Ott tells us about her distinctive approach to life as a pianist.

The founder of the BBC New Generation Artists Scheme tells us about finding star quality in young musicians and his plans for the Leeds Competition.

Andsnes tells us about his latest venture, a journey through the piano music of Sibelius, and about his plans for the future.

Austrian-Russian pianist Lisa Smirnova features in the London Piano Festival at Kings Place this October. We caught up with her for a quick Q&A.

One of the world's leading fortepiano players tells us about his lifelong love of historical pianos and how he returns to the real Beethoven.

Anna Fedorova is the featured artist in our next At Home Concert Club, so we caught up with her to talk about her musical background and approach to playing Rachmaninov.

In the seven years before his marriage to Clara Wieck in 1840, Schumann wrote some of his best-loved keyboard works, including the First and Second piano sonatas, Kreisleriana, the C-Major Fantasy, and Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood).

As part of piano month, we take a look at the ten most popular piano concertos of recent years. 

Claude Debussy hatte genaue Vorstellungen von der Interpretation seiner Werke und befand sogar, dass er in seiner Lebenszeit nur zwei wirklich gute Pianisten gehört habe - Franz Liszt und seine Klavierlehrerin. Hätte er über spätere Pianisten anders gedacht?

Im Andenken an den verstorbenen russischen Künstlerfreund und Maler Viktor Hartmann setzt Mussorgsky den mystischen Charakter von dessen Bildwelten in eine farbenreiche Musik voller Gegensätze.

From Schoenberg and Ives to Boulez and Ligeti, landmark pieces of modernist and contemporary solo piano music chart the turbulent progress through the 20th century.

Google “virtuoso pianist” and the image search results will throw up pictures of Richter, Brendel, Rubenstein, Horowitz, Argerich, Arrau, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, Trifonov, Pollini, Cziffra, Gould, Kissin, Uchida, Hough, Pires, Ogdon, Schiff, Cliburn, Hamelin, Schnabel, Cortot, Horowitz, Hess, von Bulow, Andsnes...

Debussy se inspiró en lugares imaginados y en ciudades lejanas para componer obras como L’isle joyeuse, La cathédrale engloutie, Pagodes o La soirée dans Grenade. Su genialidad hace que, a pesar de no haberlos visitado, la evocación y la recreación de esos espacios sea magnífica.

With his early 1970s piece Strumming Music, Charlemagne Palestine ushered in a unique piano style that is still striking today.

The world of professional piano-playing today is filled with competitions. But are they really such a great way to spot the stars among the latest generation of talent? We talk to three young pianists about their experiences.

Si François-Frédéric Guy joue avant tout une musique de la connaissance, elle s'en émancipe aussitôt dans le feu et l'adrénaline, qui sont d'un Neptune ouvrant l'océan de ses mains ! C'est un artiste dans son plus bel état de maturité et d'épanouissement que nous avons rencontré.

Récompensé en 1978 d’un premier prix unanime au Concours Reine Elisabeth de Belgique, Abdel Rahman El Bacha mène un travail de fond sur le répertoire. Trois pôles dominent sa discographie : Beethoven, Chopin et Prokofiev, pour lesquels il a gravé plusieurs intégrales.