Masterclass

Kent International Pianoforte Courses is proud to annouce that the internationally respected pianist, recording artist, festival curator and educator Joanna MacGregor will present the KIPC2015 masterclass.

Joanna MacGregor is thought of as one of the world’s most innovative and creative pianists, appearing as a concert pianist, curator and collaborator. Currently Head of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music, she is also Artistic Director of Dartington International Summer School from 2015.  She was Artistic Director of Bath International Music Festival for seven years until 2012, as well as the curator of the 2010 multi-arts Deloitte Ignite Festival at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and of Aventures, the 2012-2013 orchestral series at Luxembourg Philharmonie.

As a solo artist Joanna has performed in over seventy countries and worked with many eminent conductors — Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Valery Gergiev and Michael Tilson Thomas amongst them — and orchestras, including London and Sydney Symphony orchestras, Chicago, Melbourne and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras, the Berlin Symphony and Salzburg Camerata. She has premiered many landmark compositions, ranging from Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Django Bates to John Adams and James MacMillan. She performs regularly at major venues throughout the world, including Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre and the Barbican in London, Sydney Opera House, Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

She made three appearances at the 2012 BBC Proms, two of them televised (including Hugh Wood's Piano Concerto and Messiaen's Turangalîla), and made her debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in Lincoln Center, New York in 2012. She is currently performing the complete Mozart concertos, and performed the complete Chopin Mazurkas to widespread acclaim in 2010. Known for her Bach interpretations, she was invited by Sir John Eliot Gardiner to perform the Goldberg Variations at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2013, broadcast live. This season's schedule includes performances in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, China and USA.

Joanna MacGregor made her conducting debut in 2002 and has solo-directed concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata and the Hallé Orchestra, and enjoys a close artistic partnership with Britten Sinfonia. Her many collaborations include tabla player Talvin Singh, Brian Eno, folk artist Kathryn Tickell, jazz saxophonist Andy Sheppard, Arabic singer and oud virtuoso Dhafer Youssef, and the cultural historian Marina Warner. Joanna was the subject of a South Bank Show on ITV, and her performances are regularly broadcast on both television and radio, including the Last Night of the Proms.

Joanna MacGregor has made over thirty solo recordings, ranging from Bach and Scarlatti  to Cage and Piazzolla.  She has received Honorary Fellowships from the Royal Academy of Music, Trinity College of Music and Murray Edwards, Cambridge, as well as Honorary Doctorates from Bath University, Bath Spa and the Open University. From 1997 to 2000 she was Professor of Music at Gresham College, London, where she gave a series of public lectures.

She was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Jubilee Honours in 2012, and in September 2013 she was appointed as a Professor of the University of London at the Royal Academy of Music.