Iain Burnside is a Scottish classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and

accompanist Accompaniment is the part (music), musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmony (music), harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in ...

, and a former presenter on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

. Following study at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

, the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

and the Chopin Academy, in Warsaw he became a freelance pianist, specialising particularly in song repertoire. He has collaborated with many singers, and was particularly close friends with the late soprano Susan Chilcott. Burnside is the godfather of Chilcott's son, Hugh, and following her death in 2003 became his

legal guardian A legal guardian is a person who has been appointed by a court or otherwise has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to make decisions relevant to the personal and property interests of another person who is deemed incompetent, call ...

. Other vocalists he has worked and recorded with include Laura Claycomb, Matthew Rose,

Roderick Williams Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE (born 1965) is a British baritone and composer. Biography Williams was born in North London to a Welsh father and a Jamaican mother. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford and Haberdashers' ...

, with whom he has recorded the complete Finzi baritone songs, and most recently

Sarah Connolly Dame Sarah Patricia Connolly (born 13 June 1963) is an English mezzo-soprano. Although best known for her Baroque music, baroque and Classical period (music), classical roles, Connolly has a wide-ranging repertoire which has included works by ...

, with a release of songs by Korngold. After presenting the

Cardiff Singer of the World BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition (known as Cardiff Singer of the World from 1983–2001 and BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff in 2003) is a competition for classical singers held every two years. The competition was started by BBC W ...

competition, he became a presenter on Radio 3, for many years fronting the weekly song-orientated show ''Voices'' for which he won a

Sony Radio Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

. Later he began presenting the Sunday morning programme.
Iain Burnside
' (programme) at the

website. He also wrote the musical play ''

A Soldier and a Maker ''A Soldier and a Maker'' is a piece of musical theatre written by Iain Burnside on the life story of the World War l poet and composer Ivor Gurney. It premiered in April 2012 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, with Richard Goulding as Gu ...

'' on the life of

Ivor Gurney Ivor Bertie Gurney (28 August 1890 – 26 December 1937) was an English poet and composer, particularly of songs. He was born and raised in Gloucester. He suffered from bipolar disorder through much of his life and spent his last 15 years in ps ...

, premiered in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnside, Iain British classical pianists Male classical pianists Classical accompanists BBC Radio 3 presenters Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century British male musicians