Kathryn Stott (born 10 December 1958)Morrison B. "Stott, Kathryn" in ''Grove Music Online'' (Oxford University Press)
(accessed 8 December 2008) is an English classical pianist who performs as a concerto soloist,

recital A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety ...

ist and chamber musician. Her specialities include the English and French classical repertoire, contemporary classical music and the

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

. She is a professor at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and has organised several music festivals and concert series. '' Grove Music Online'' describes Stott's playing as "marked by a vivid sense of immediacy and personal communication." A review of her fiftieth birthday gala concert in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' describes her as "one of the most versatile pianists on the circuit".

Early life and education

Stott was born in

Nelson, Lancashire Nelson is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, with a population of 29,135 in 2011. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Burnley and 2.5 miles southwest of Colne. It developed as a mill town during the Indust ...

. Her mother was a piano teacher and she began to learn the piano at the age of five.Church M. Many hands make light work. ''Independent'' (4 February 2000)
(accessed 5 December 2008) She attended the

Yehudi Menuhin School The Yehudi Menuhin School is a specialist music school in Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, England, founded in 1963 by violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin. The current director of music is the British classical pianist Ashley Wass. The school is on ...

, where her teachers included

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

Marcel Ciampi Marcel Paul Maximin Ciampi (29 May 1891 – 2 September 1980) was a French pianist and teacher. He held the longest tenure in the history of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and also became head of piano classes at the Y ...

, Barbara Kerslake and

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

specialist,

Vlado Perlemuter Vladislas "Vlado" Perlemuter (26 May 1904 – 4 September 2002) was a Lithuanian-born French pianist and teacher. Biography Vladislas (Vlado) Perlemuter was born to a Polish Jewish family, the third of four sons, in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas in Li ...

, and then studied at 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 ...

with Kendall Taylor.Royal Academy of Music: Kathryn Stott
(accessed 5 December 2008)

Performance and recording career

Stott's career as a soloist was launched after she gained fifth place in the

Leeds International Piano Competition The Leeds International Piano Competition, informally known as The Leeds and formerly the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, takes place every three years in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1961 by Marion, Countess ...

in 1978. Her London début was at the

Purcell Room The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats. The Purcell Roo ...

the same year. She has since toured throughout Europe, Asia, America and Australia with a concert repertoire that encompasses concertos, solo piano music and chamber music. She is unusual in always performing from a score.Her output for the BBC over the years has been vast, performing not only in solo recital but also with all the BBC orchestras including 10 'Proms' at the Royal Albert Hall. Stott has a particular affinity with English music and a keen interest in contemporary music with many works written especially for her. Her series of recordings of works by

Frank Bridge Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Life Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845-1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a m ...

, George Lloyd,

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 ...

and

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

is described as "distinguished" in ''Grove''. She is also known for her love of French music, particularly the works of Gabriel Fauré, whose complete piano works she has recorded to critical acclaim. Contemporary classical music is another of Stott's specialities. She has given the first performances of many works, including a concerto by

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

, Michael Nyman's '' The Piano Concerto'' and

Graham Fitkin Graham Fitkin (born 19 April 1963) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. His compositions fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres. Described by ''The Independent'' in 1998 as "one of the most important of our younger co ...

's ''Circuit'' (with Noriko Ogawa). Her close musical relationship with Fitkin has led to 8 World premieres. Since the mid-1990s, she has also been interested in

and other Latin dance music, which she describes as "primitive music, hard to place, both abrasive and tender".Stott K. I've been tangoed. ''Guardian'' (29 November 2008)
(accessed 5 December 2008) Stott first met her long-time collaborator, the noted American cellist

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma ('' Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

, in 1978 when she "discovered a Chinese man playing the cello" in her flat after returning from holiday. (Ma had rented the flat from Stott's flat-mate, violinist

Nigel Kennedy Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is an English violinist and violist. His early career was primarily spent performing classical music, and he has since expanded into jazz, klezmer, and other music genres. Early life and background Kenn ...

, without realising that it was shared). Stott and Ma have worked together since 1985; the pair frequently tours together and has made several joint recordings, including ''Soul of the Tango'' and ''Obrigado Brazil'', which received

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

s in 1999 and 2004. In 2020, Stott curated their album ''Songs of Comfort and Hope'' as a musical response to the impact of the pandemic. She also has long-standing collaborations with cellists

Truls Mørk Truls Olaf Otterbech Mørk (born 25 April 1961) is a Norwegian cellist. Biography Mørk was born in Bergen, Norway to a cellist father, John Fritjof Mørk, and a pianist mother, Turid Otterbech. His mother began teaching him the piano when he w ...

, Christian Poltéra and

Natalie Clein Natalie Clein (born Poole, Dorset) is a British classical cellist. Her mother is a professional violinist. Her sister is the actress Louisa Clein. Early life and education Clein started playing the cello at the age of six, and attended Ta ...

, violinist

Janine Jansen Janine Jansen (born 7 January 1978) is a Dutch violinist and violist. Early life and education Jansen was born in Soest in the Netherlands and came from a musical family. Her father plays organ, harpsichord and piano; from 1987 to mid-2011 h ...

, trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth and pianist Noriko Ogawa.Kathryn Stott: Pianist: Biography
(accessed 8 December 2008)

Artistic direction

Stott has been the artistic vision behind several major festivals and concert series. In 1995, she organised a Fauré festival in Manchester to mark the composer's 150th anniversary. According to the ''

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

'', the event was "transformed by her enthusiasm and her own sumptuous performances of this neglected composer's works." The success of the festival led to her appointment as

Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and letters, Arts and Letters) is an Order (distinction), order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Ministry of Culture (France), Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the w ...

by the French government.Kathryn Stott: Pianist: Artistic Director
(accessed 8 December 2008) She directed two major piano festivals at the Manchester Bridgewater Hall in 2000 and 2003, establishing her reputation as an astute programmer. As Stott considers "It's very important at an event like this that we should let people play", both festivals featured multiple

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

grands that the public were allowed to try, as well as a variety of novelty pianos including a red "Ferrari" Steinway, an "exploded" piano revealing the internal workings, a grove of woven pianos, and a concert grand fitted with a pool which played a variety of watery sounds. In 1998, Stott directed a concert series "Out of the Shadows" with the

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 ...

, featuring two neglected female composers,

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a ...

and Fanny Mendelssohn. She also directed the series "Chopin: The Music and the Legacy" at Leeds College of Music (2004–05) and "Paris" at the Sheffield

Crucible A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

(2006). She was appointed the musical director of the Manchester Chamber Concerts Society (2009-14)She will succeed Piers Lane as 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 ...

in 2018.

Teaching

As of 2008, Stott teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at

Chetham's School of Music Chetham's School of Music () is an independent co-educational music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates students between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. Students receive a full academic education a ...

in Manchester. She formerly taught at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. She joined the Piano Faculty of the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo from September 2016.

Also

Kathryn Stott lives in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, has a daughter, Lucy, and enjoys being in the countryside with her working cocker spaniel, Archie.

Partial discography

References

External links

Kathryn Stott's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stott, Kathryn English classical pianists English women pianists Piano pedagogues Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Prize-winners of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition Grammy Award winners Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Alumni of the Royal College of Music People educated at Yehudi Menuhin School People from Nelson, Lancashire 1958 births Living people 21st-century classical pianists Women music educators 21st-century English women musicians Women classical pianists 21st-century women pianists