About

Christine Stevenson enjoys a distinguished career as a piano recitalist and concerto soloist throughout the UK and abroad. Her concerts continually draw critical acclaim for her virtuosity, musicianship, and the engaging rapport she establishes with audiences of all ages. She is a joint Artistic Director/Tutor at the annual Summer School for Pianists at Stowe in Buckinghamshire, UK [visit www.pianosummerschool.co.uk for details] and is on the staff of the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music in London. She writes about piano music at www.notesfromapianist.wordpress.com.

This season’s engagements include Ralph Vaughan Williams’ ‘On Wenlock Edge’ for tenor, string quartet and piano, as well as recitals in Essex, Kent, Oxford, Cambridge, Suffolk, Buckingham and London. In 2021 she had the honour of giving a live-streamed recital in memory of HRH The Prince Philip in St Edmundsbury Cathedral on the sad day of his passing, as well as the inaugural concert for the Westminster Chamber Music Society. Christine is delighted be performing again for the Society this year.

Recent concerts have included performances of music for Twenty Digits – piano duet and piano duo – with Gustav Holst’s own arrangement of  ‘The Planets’ for two pianos, chamber music by Clara Schumann presented by LSO animateur Rachel Leach, and a return visit to France for solo recitals in the Dordogne region. A masterclass given by Christine at the 2019 Summer School was filmed and is available to view on the Summer School for Pianists’ YouTube channel.

Previous seasons’ recitals have explored the worlds of The Romantic Piano, The Ubiquitous Prelude, Pictures at an Exhibition, Vienna 1887, Nocturnes, Death in Venice, Years of Pilgrimage and A Winter in Majorca, while locations have included Highclere Castle (television’s Downton Abbey), the Woodend Winter Arts Festival in Australia, ‘Chopin in the Park’ outdoors, Hatchlands on an historic 1845 Erard piano signed by Thalberg, and return visits to venues throughout the UK.

Christine’s recordings include music by the award-winning British composer. Thomas Hewitt Jones, and a recording of Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage – II – Italie released on CD and iTunes in the year of Liszt’s bicentenary, which received excellent reviews.

Winner of the prestigious Dom Polski Chopin Competition, Christine’s wide experience includes the premiere CD recording of Alkan’s Rondo Brillant with members of the London Mozart Players, live and recorded broadcasts for the ABC and BBC, a period as Musician in Residence at the Chisholm Institute, performances in a film featuring chamber music of Margaret Sutherland and Helen Gifford, and an Arts Council tour of northern Australia in collaboration with selected actors, a visual artist and a dancer in multi-arts presentations.

An inspiring communicator, Christine has been invited to give masterclasses at Morley College, the City Lit Institute, Jackdaws Music Education Trust, the Hindhead Music Centre, for the Victorian Music Teachers’ Association in Australia and for the London Piano Circle. She has taught advanced pianists at Lancaster University, as well as pupils of all ages in schools in Cumbria, London and Suffolk, with many former pupils now active in the music profession.

Born in Melbourne, Christine graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with distinction, being twice awarded the Gaitskell prize for the most outstanding student. She studied with pupils of Cortot, of Nadia Boulanger and of Michelangeli, and with the celebrated English pianist, Ronald Smith, also participating in masterclasses given by Sergei Dorensky, Aldo Ciccolini and Vlado Perlemuter. @notesfromapiano