LUNCHTIME RECITAL
James Kirby – piano
FREE ADMITTANCE
Retiring Collection
The Programme
James Kirby – piano
Ludwig van BeethovenSonata in G, Op 49/2 (1795/6)
1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Tempo di Menuetto
Nocturne in D flat, Op 27/2 (1836)
Nocturne in G, Op 37/2 (1838)
Polonaise in C minor, Op 40/2 (1838)
Two legends (1863)
1. St Francis of Assisi’s sermon to the birds
2. St Francis of Paola walking on the waves
The Artist
James Kirby studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Hamish Milne and the Moscow Conservatoire with Tatiana Nikolaeva and Eliso Virsaladze. Following his student years in Moscow he undertook regular solo and chamber music tours of the former Soviet Union, making notable appearances at the Sakharov Festival in Nizhny Novgorod, the Omsk Festival and the Viktor Merzhanov Festival in Tambov. He was a semi-finalist in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and won First Prize in the Citta di Marsala Piano Competition in Sicily.
He has appeared as concerto soloist with the English, Scottish and Belarusian Chamber Orchestras, the Moscow, Kazakh, Astana and Penang Symphony Orchestras, the Arad and Oradea Philharmonic Orchestras (Romania), in venues including the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire and Astana Opera House. He has performed both Brahms Concertos in Russia and Romania.
James was a member of the Barbican Piano Trio for over thirty years, performing at Wigmore Hall, in major UK festivals and concert series, and throughout Europe and the USA. Highlights included Carnegie Recital Hall and several cycles of Beethoven’s complete Piano Trios including the Master Concert Series at Wigmore Hall. The Trio’s repertoire consists of over seventy works.
James enjoyed a long collaboration with the celebrated Russian violinist Lydia Mordkovitch and has worked with Martyn Brabbins, the Vanbrugh Quartet, BBC Singers, Dame Sarah Connolly and the pianist David Willison.
