William Howard is established as one of Britain’s leading pianists, enjoying a career that has taken him to over 40 different countries. His performing life consists of solo recitals, concerto performances, guest appearances with chamber ensembles and instrumentalists, and regular touring with the Schubert Ensemble of London, Britain’s leading group for piano and strings and winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Best Chamber Ensemble. He can be heard on over 30 CDs, released by Chandos, Hyperion, ASV, NMC, Collins Classics, Black Box and Champs Hill.

His solo career has taken him to many of Britain’s most important festivals, including Bath, Brighton and Cheltenham, and he has been artist in residence at several others. He has performed many times in the Wigmore Hall and the South Bank in London and has broadcast regularly for BBC Radio 3. For many years he has been invited to perform and teach at the Dartington International Summer School. His recording of Dvořák Piano Works was selected in the Gramophone Critics’ Choice, and his recording of Fibich’s ‘Moods, Impressions and Souvenirs’ won a Diapason D’Or award in France.

Recent solo engagements have included performances at the Leamington, Petworth, Paxton and Spitalfields Festivals, at Kings Place in London and in Oregon, USA. His most recent recording, released in April 2011, is of Pavel Zemek Novák's extraordinary 75-minute cycle of 24 Preludes and Fugues, described by David Matthews as "one of the finest piano works of our time." A double five-star review in the BBC Music Magazine (October 2011) described the performance as "superb" and the music "a real discovery".

He is passionate about 19th century piano repertoire, especially Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and Fauré. He also has a strong interest in Czech piano music, and has been particularly acclaimed for his performance of Janáček, for which he received a medal from the Czech Minister of Culture in 1986. Many leading composers of the present day have written for him, including, Sally Beamish, Petr Eben, Piers Hellawell, David Matthews, Pavel Novák, Anthony Powers, Howard Skempton and Judith Weir.


Background Information

Education

Principal Piano teachers:
1977-1983 Peter Feuchtwanger, 1976-1979 Vlado Perlemuter, 1968-1975 Joyce Rathbone

Intensive Study:
1990-1995 - 3 visits to Brno to study Janáček piano works with Milan Maša
1984 - summer course at Prague Academy with František Rauch
1978-83 - regular summer courses in Switzerland and Italy with Nikita Magaloff
1970 - summer course at Academia Chigiana with Sergio Lorenzi

University: New College, Oxford (BA/Classics)

School: Ampleforth College, Yorks

Awards and Scholarships

1998 - Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Best Chamber Group (Schubert Ensemble)
1995 - Diapason D’Or (France) awarded for CD of Fibich Piano Works
1986 - Medal from Czech Minister of Culture for Services to Czech Music
1983 and 1984 - Park Lane Group Young Artist
1984 - Czech Government Scholarship to study in Prague
1980 - Greater London Arts Young Musician of the Year


Performing Career as Solo Pianist

Recitals:

Since 1977: Recitals in Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, USA.
Regular appearances at major UK venues (e.g. Wigmore Hall - debut 1983, South Bank Centre, St. George’s Bristol) and UK Festivals (e.g. Bath, Brighton, Cheltenham, Deal, Leamington, Norwich, Warwick).
BBC broadcasts from Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, London
Featured artist at Dartington International Summer School 1993, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2011.

Recent highlights:

Sept 2011 - Two recitals for Kings Place Festival, London
June 2010 - World premiere of Piers Hellawell's Piani, Latebre at Spitalfields Festival, London
Feb 2010 - Recital at Bishopsgate Institute for London Czech Festival
May 2009 - Fauré recital at Kings Place, London
Jan 2008 - LSO St. Luke’s/BBC Radio 3 (Judith Weir The Art of Touching the Keyboard)
Dec 2007 - Cardiff University (Janáček piano works, with John Tyrell, speaker)
Dec 2007 - St. Giles, Cripplegate, London (Pavel Novák 24 Preludes & Fugues London premiere)
Sept 2007 - Brno Conservatoire, Czech Republic (Pavel Novák 24 Preludes & Fugues Czech premiere)
Aug 2007 - Dartington International Summer School (Mozart, Fauré, Debussy, Chopin recital)
Feb 2007 - Purcell Room (Mendelssohn, Howard Skempton)
May 2006 - Norwich Festival (Martin Butler Funerailles world premiere)
Sept 2004 - Brno Conservatoire (Pavel Novák Symfonie No.3 for piano and strings Czech premiere)
Aug 2004 - Dartington International Summer School (Pavel Novák Symfonie No.3 for piano and strings world premiere)
Aug 2004 - Dartington International Summer School (cycle of complete Janáček piano works)
May 2004 - Leamington Festival (Howard Skempton 11 Reflections world premiere)
July 2003 - Cheltenham International Festival (Anthony Powers Vista world premiere)


Performing Career as Chamber Musician:

The Schubert Ensemble

Performances in 40 countries and appearances in some of the world’s most prestigious chamber series (e.g. Coleman Series, Los Angeles, Metropolitan Museum Series, New York, Music Toronto, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Konserthus, Oslo)
Tours to USA and Canada every 2 years
2-3 performances a year at Wigmore Hall
Recent Composer Portrait Series at South Bank (6 concerts)
12 BBC Radio 3 recitals in last 5 years
Appearance on Channel 4 TV
Performances at almost all major festivals in UK
2008-12 Residency at the Birmingham Conservatoire
2007-8 Residency for Dartington Arts
2006-8 18-concert Residency at Cardiff University
1998-2002 Residencies at Hall For Cornwall, Truro, Wiltshire Music Centre and Bristol University
1995-2003 Residencies at Dartington International Summer School

For more information please visit the Schubert Ensemble website www.schubertensemble.com


Other Collaborations:

Duos: 1990-1996 with Anthony Marwood (violin), 1978-1984 with Paul Barritt (violin), 1977-79 Alexander Baillie (cello). 1977-2004 performances with Škampa, Stamitz, Moscow, Kocian and Martinu String Quartets, Koenig and Albion Ensembles, Prunella Scales and Walter Van Dyk (programme of Melodramas)


Teaching

1977 onwards - private teaching
1983 onwards - regular piano and chamber master-classes in UK and abroad (e.g. Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, South America, USA: in UK for Trinity College of Music, London College of Music, Yehudi Menuhin School, Purcell School, Chethams, Cambridge University and many other universities, colleges and schools)
2001 onwards - Birmingham Conservatoire (chamber music coaching)
Nov 2007 to Feb 2008 - Dartington Arts Residency (Schubert Ensemble): piano master-classes, chamber music coaching
2006-8 - Cardiff University Residency (Schubert Ensemble): undergraduate performance master-classes, seminars for performers and composers
1993 onwards - piano master-classes and workshops at Dartington International Summer School
1998-2002 - 3 Arts Council sponsored Residencies at Bristol University, Hall for Cornwall, Truro, and Wiltshire Music Centre (Schubert Ensemble): instrumental tuition and chamber music coaching from primary school to post-graduate level
1998-2011 - Artistic Director of Chamber Music 2000, a Schubert Ensemble project in which 45 pieces were commissioned for students, and several hundred teenage pianists and string players were coached for public concerts of new chamber works.
2008-2012 - Residency (Schubert Ensemble) at Birmingham Conservatoire