John Thwaites
Lecturer, Keyboard and Collaborative Piano
Keyboard
Instrument(s): Keyboard Piano
John studied on the Joint Course between Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of
Music, at the Guildhall, in Siena, Vienna and (as the recipient of an English Speaking Union
scholarship) in the United States. His teachers included Harvey Dagul, Sulamita Aronovsky, Paul
Berkowitz, Martino Tirimo and Christian Blackshaw.
In addition to early recitals for the Park Lane Group and Live Music Now!, John won the 1986 North West Arts Young Musicians' Platform with bassist Leon Bosch. Both were founder members of the Music Group of Manchester (1986-'93) undertaking innovative projects such as commissions and a Tchaikovsky tribute with Tim Piggot-Smith for the Royal Exchange Theatre.
John has been working with Alexander Baillie for thirty years. They appeared in the first and last Manchester International 'Cello Festivals, released a recital CD in 2000, and selected live performances in 2009. Another longstanding association is with Sue Lowe's 'Cello Schools, and John has performed with Johannes Goritzki, Louise Hopkins, Pierre Doumenge, Li Wei, Oleg Kogan, Melissa Phelps, Alexander Ivashkin and Alexander Boyarsky.
In addition to early recitals for the Park Lane Group and Live Music Now!, John won the 1986 North West Arts Young Musicians' Platform with bassist Leon Bosch. Both were founder members of the Music Group of Manchester (1986-'93) undertaking innovative projects such as commissions and a Tchaikovsky tribute with Tim Piggot-Smith for the Royal Exchange Theatre.
John has been working with Alexander Baillie for thirty years. They appeared in the first and last Manchester International 'Cello Festivals, released a recital CD in 2000, and selected live performances in 2009. Another longstanding association is with Sue Lowe's 'Cello Schools, and John has performed with Johannes Goritzki, Louise Hopkins, Pierre Doumenge, Li Wei, Oleg Kogan, Melissa Phelps, Alexander Ivashkin and Alexander Boyarsky.
Alongside relationships with the Schidlof, Maggini, Emperor, Martinu and Brodsky Quartets, a
performance of Lyapunov's Sextet with the Dante Quartet on Dutton Digital was BBC Music Magazine's
chamber music choice for November 2004. Two discs of British repertoire and a Strauss CD have been
released on Meridian by the Primrose Piano Quartet (Stanzeleit, Ireland, Fuller, Thwaites). The
Primrose gave the 2006 Hurlstone Centenary Recital at the Wigmore Hall, and commissioned a new
piano quartet from Sir Peter Maxwell Davies which was premiered at the 2008 Cheltenham
International Music Festival. John is also a member of the Audley Horn Trio (Stanzeleit, Stirling,
Thwaites) and the Da Vinci Piano Trio (Moffatt, Irvine, Thwaites).
Recent concerto performances include Grieg at St. John's Smith Square, and Tchaikovsky at the Royal College of Music. A solo disc of Romantic Favourites will be released in 2010.
John has broadcast regularly for BBC Radio Three in live Lunchtime Recitals and as a guest on "In Tune". He has appeared on television and radio in Germany, Ireland and Bulgaria. As Chamber Music Director for the Horsham Festival, promotions included a Bax Weekend and Britain's first Complete Series of Brahms's Chamber Music (taking the seventeen piano parts).
He conducts the Bridge of Weir and Greenock Philharmonic Choral Societies, which in March 2008 gave a joint performance of Verdi's Requiem with the musicians of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Future conducting plans include Brahms, Elgar, Bach, Haydn and Bruckner, and a concerto evening in Glasgow.
Having run the Piano Department at Christ's Hospital, and taught at the Guildhall, John is currently a lecturer in Keyboard and Collaborative Piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and Course Director of the Cadenza International Summer Music School, a piano and strings festival resident at the Purcell School, London, in July.
Philosophy, politics and climate change are amongst his other interests, and he is writing a play dramatising the passions that surround a performance of the Cesar Franck Sonata.
Recent concerto performances include Grieg at St. John's Smith Square, and Tchaikovsky at the Royal College of Music. A solo disc of Romantic Favourites will be released in 2010.
John has broadcast regularly for BBC Radio Three in live Lunchtime Recitals and as a guest on "In Tune". He has appeared on television and radio in Germany, Ireland and Bulgaria. As Chamber Music Director for the Horsham Festival, promotions included a Bax Weekend and Britain's first Complete Series of Brahms's Chamber Music (taking the seventeen piano parts).
He conducts the Bridge of Weir and Greenock Philharmonic Choral Societies, which in March 2008 gave a joint performance of Verdi's Requiem with the musicians of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Future conducting plans include Brahms, Elgar, Bach, Haydn and Bruckner, and a concerto evening in Glasgow.
Having run the Piano Department at Christ's Hospital, and taught at the Guildhall, John is currently a lecturer in Keyboard and Collaborative Piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and Course Director of the Cadenza International Summer Music School, a piano and strings festival resident at the Purcell School, London, in July.
Philosophy, politics and climate change are amongst his other interests, and he is writing a play dramatising the passions that surround a performance of the Cesar Franck Sonata.
Socialise with RSAMD