Piers Lane (born 8 January 1958) is an Australian
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 ...
. His performance career has taken him to more than 40 countries. His concerto repertoire exceeds 75 works.
Early life
Lane's English father and Australian mother met while auditioning as piano students for the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...
. Lane was born in London and he grew up in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
. He graduated with a Medal of Excellence from the
Queensland Conservatorium of Music
Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (formerly the Queensland Conservatorium of Music) is a selective, audition based music school located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and is part of Griffith University.
History
The Conservatori ...
, where his teacher was
Nancy Weir, winning the Margaret Nickson Prize in 1978 and the Ruby C Cooling prize in 1977 and 1978. He was later awarded an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
by the conservatorium.
He first came to prominence at the inaugural
Sydney International Piano Competition
The Sydney International Piano Competition is a music competition, presented in Sydney and broadcast live throughout Australia and internationally. It is held every four years, over a three-week period in July–August, and is internationally r ...
in 1977, at which he was named Best Australian Pianist (he was a judge at the 2004 competition). He later studied overseas on a
Churchill Fellowship
Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...
.
Career
Highlights of Lane's career include
concerto performances at
Avery Fisher Hall
David Geffen Hall is a concert hall in New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The 2,200-seat auditorium opened in 1962, and is the home of the New York Philharmonic.
The facility, desi ...
,
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...
in New York with the
American Symphony Orchestra under
Leon Botstein
Leon Botstein (born December 14, 1946 in Zürich, Switzerland) is a Swiss-American conducting, conductor, educator, and scholar serving as the President of Bard College.
Biography 1946–1975: Early life, education, and career
Botstein was ...
; Beethoven's
''Emperor'' Concerto with
The Queensland Orchestra, which received a Limelight Award for Best Orchestral Concert of 2007; concerto appearances with the
City of Birmingham Symphony,
London Philharmonic
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...
,
Hallé and
Ulster Orchestra
The Ulster Orchestra, based in Belfast, is the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United K ...
s; a solo recital in Birmingham's
Symphony Hall for the BBC; a three-recital series called ''Metamorphoses'' and an all-
Chopin recital at the
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...
in London; and appearances in many major piano festivals in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. He has also played with all ABC and BBC Orchestras, the Aarhus, City of Birmingham,
Bournemouth,
Gothenburg and
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Symph ...
s, the Hallé,
Philharmonia
The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, ...
, Kanazawa Ensemble and
City of London Sinfonia, the London,
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmon ...
and
Royal Philharmonic Orchestras and the
Orchestre National de France
The Orchestre national de France (ONF; literal translation, ''National Orchestra of France'') is a French symphony orchestra based in Paris, founded in 1934. Placed under the administration of the French national radio (named Radio France sinc ...
among many others. He has been soloist five times at the
BBC Proms
The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
in London's
Royal Albert Hall.
Engagements in Australia and New Zealand during 2008 include a second national tour with
Cheryl Barker
Cheryl Ruth Barker (born 22 April 1960, Sydney) is an Australian operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the late 1980s. She has sung on several complete opera recordings with Chandos Records, including the title role ...
and her husband baritone
Peter Coleman-Wright
Peter Coleman-Wright (born 13 October 1958) is an Australian baritone from Geelong. He began his career at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where he sang Guglielmo in ''Così fan tutte'', winning the Touring Prize. Subsequently, he sang Sid in '' Al ...
for
Musica Viva Australia
Musica Viva was founded in 1945 by Romanian-born violinist Richard Goldner, with the aim of bringing chamber music to Australia. The co-founder was a German-born musicologist, Walter Dullo. At its inception, Musica Viva was a string ensemble per ...
, concerto performances in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
and
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
and solo recitals in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
,
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
,
Noosa
The Shire of Noosa is a local government area about north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia. The shire covers an area of . It existed as a local government entity from 1910 until 2008, when it wa ...
and
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
.
Recent collaborations as a chamber player have included a Musica Viva tour of Australia with violist/composer
Brett Dean
Brett Dean (born 23 October 1961) is an Australian composer, violist and conductor.
Biography
Brett Dean was born, raised and educated in Brisbane. He started learning violin at the age of eight, and later studied viola with Elizabeth Morgan ...
and performances with
Anne Sofie von Otter
Anne Sofie von Otter (born 9 May 1955) is a Swedish mezzo-soprano. Her repertoire encompasses lieder, operas, oratorios and also rock and pop songs.
Early life
Von Otter was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was Göran von Otter, a Swedis ...
and
Bengt Forsberg Bengt Forsberg (born 1952) is a Swedish concert pianist most famous for his numerous collaborations with the mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. He participated in her project to record songs written in the concentration camp of Terezín. Forsberg ...
in Malmö, Stockholm and the
Bergen International Festival
Bergen International Festival ( no, Festspillene i Bergen) is an annual international music and cultural festival in Bergen, Norway.
Biography
The Bergen International festival is the largest festival in the Nordic countries in its genre and ha ...
. He continues his long-standing partnership with British violinist
Tasmin Little
Tasmin Little (born 13 May 1965) is an English classical violinist. She is a concerto soloist and also performs as a recitalist and chamber musician. She has released numerous albums, winning the Critics Award at the Classic Brit Awards in 2011 ...
in UK recital tours. Piers Lane is Patron of the
Accompanists Guild of Queensland, Inc.
Since 2007, Lane is the Artistic Director of the
Australian Festival of Chamber Music
The Australian Festival of Chamber Music (AFCM) is a ten-day international festival focused on chamber music held in Townsville, North Queensland commencing on the last Friday in July. The AFCM also incorporates a Winterschool for emerging artist ...
held annually in
Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
.
Lane has an extensive discography on the
Hyperion label and has also recorded for
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
,
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
,
BMG,
Lyrita
Lyrita is a British classical music record label, specializing in the works of British composers.
Lyrita began releasing LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition for sale by mail order subscription. The founder of the company, Richard ...
and Unicorn-Khanchana. Recent releases from Hyperion include concertos by
Eyvind Alnæs
Eyvind Alnæs (29 April 1872 – 24 December 1932) was a Norwegian composer, pianist, organist and choir director.
Personal life
Alnæs was born in Fredrikstad, as the son of headmaster Johannes Jørgen Lauritz Alnæs (1835–1916) and Elise Ma ...
and
Christian Sinding, a
Delius song disc with
Yvonne Kenny and a recording of
Ernest Bloch's Piano Quintets with the
Goldner String Quartet, which was an Editor's Choice in the December 2007 ''
Gramophone'' magazine and BBC Music Magazine's Record of the Month for February 2008. He is one of the few pianists to have recorded
John Ireland
John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...
's
Piano Concerto in E-flat major. In 2014 Hyperion released his recording of the complete piano concertos of
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson, (21 November 19312 March 2003) was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.
Biography
Williamson was born in Sydney in 1931; his father was an A ...
, including the world premiere recording of the 4th Piano Concerto. Lane is a well-known voice on
BBC Radio 3, having written and presented more than 100 programs, including a 54-part series called ''The Piano''.
In 1994 he was made an Honorary Member of the
Royal Academy of Music, where he has been a professor of piano since 1989. In 2007 he received an honorary doctorate from
Griffith University
Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian ...
, Brisbane. Lane is patron and an active supporter of the
Tait Memorial Trust in London, a charitable foundation to support young Australian performing artists in the UK.
Lane is the Artistic Director of the
Myra Hess
Dame Julia Myra Hess, (25 February 1890 – 25 November 1965) was an English pianist best known for her performances of the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann.
Career Early life
Julia Myra Hess was born on 25 February 1890 to a J ...
Day held annually at the
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
in London, and of the 2009 Bloch Festival at Wigmore Hall. Lane's recording of Ernest Bloch Piano Quintets Nos. 1 and 2 with the Goldner Quartet (Hyperion) was nominated for BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2009.
On 11 June 2012, Lane was named an Officer of the
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...
for "distinguished service to the performing arts as an internationally renowned classical pianist, to professional and cultural organisations, and to the development of emerging musicians."
In April 2015, following the death of the inaugural Artistic Director
Warren Thomson
Warren Milton Thomson OAM (2 August 193519 February 2015) was an Australian pianist, piano competition juror, music editor, and music educator. He was best known in Australia as artistic director and chairman of the jury of the Sydney Internation ...
in February, Piers Lane was announced as the Artistic Director of the 2016
Sydney International Piano Competition
The Sydney International Piano Competition is a music competition, presented in Sydney and broadcast live throughout Australia and internationally. It is held every four years, over a three-week period in July–August, and is internationally r ...
.
Lane won the
Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award in 2022.
References
Sources
Hazard Chase Music Management Company_BiographyPiers Lane Official WebsiteHyperion RecordsAnswers.com*Profile, ''
Weekend Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'', 26–27 June 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Piers
1958 births
Living people
Australian classical pianists
Male classical pianists
English emigrants to Australia
Piano pedagogues
Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University alumni
Musicians from Brisbane
Musicians from London
Academics of the Royal Academy of Music
Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music
Sydney International Piano Competition prize-winners
Officers of the Order of Australia
Sydney International Piano Competition
21st-century classical pianists
21st-century British male musicians