Anna Markland
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Anna Markland (born 23 May 1964) (also known as Anna Markland-Crookes and Anna Crookes)) is an English
soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...
and
pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...
who won the
BBC Young Musician of the Year BBC Young Musician is a televised national music competition broadcast biennially on BBC Television and BBC Radio 3. Originally BBC Young Musician of the Year, its name was changed in 2010. The competition, a former member of the European Uni ...
competition in 1982, playing
Rachmaninov Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of ...
’s Second
Piano Concerto A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advance ...
. She has featured in a long-term study of the lives of gifted children.


Education and early life

Markland grew up in a small house on a council estate in Wirral. Her grandparents on each side had immigrated from Ireland to Liverpool, her father's side being "factory hands" and on her maternal great-grandparents concert musicians. Her grandmother graduated from
Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...
with a degree in music at just 14 years old. She studied at
Chetham's School of Music Chetham's School of Music () is a private co-educational boarding and day music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates pupils between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. The music school was established i ...
(1974–1983) with
Heather Slade-Lipkin Heather Slade-Lipkin (9 March 1947 – 16 October 2017) was an English pianist, harpsichordist and teacher. Biography Slade-Lipkin was born into a musical family from Hoylake, Wirral. She began formal piano lessons before the age of six and m ...
where she was encouraged to play the piano. She achieved an
ARCM Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM) was a professional qualification awarded by the Royal College of Music. Like the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM), it was offered in teaching or performing. There is no obvious succes ...
diploma at the age of 17. In 1984, she won an instrumental scholarship to
Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...
where she studied for a BA Honours degree in Music while continuing her piano performance schedule, also singing with the choir or Worcester College and with
Schola Cantorum of Oxford Schola Cantorum of Oxford is the longest running chamber choir of University of Oxford, and one of the longest established and most widely known chamber choirs in the United Kingdom. The conductor is Steven Grahl. The choir was founded in 1960 b ...
. This was followed by two years' postgraduate piano study with
Philip Fowke Philip Fowke (born 28 June 1950) is an English pianist. Biography Philip Francis Fowke studied at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) with Gordon Green, a pupil of Egon Petri. In 1974 he made his London debut with a recital at the Wigmore Hall (Be ...
and vocal study with Kenneth Bowen at the
Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools 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 firs ...
.


Career


Pianist

In 1982, Markland was the first female and pianist to win the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. She has performed with several British orchestras including the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra,
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...
, and the
London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...
. She has accompanied vocalists including
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' ...
, James Gilchrist,
Paul Agnew Paul Agnew (born 11 April 1964 in Glasgow) is a Scottish operatic tenor and conductor. Biography Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with various groups specializing in early music (Ex Cathe ...
, Nicholas Mulroy, Matthew Brook, and
Clare Wilkinson Clare Wilkinson (born in Manchester, England) is an English mezzo-soprano specialising in Baroque and Renaissance music. Her recent CD recordings are *''Mynstrelles with Straunge Sounds'' with the Rose Consort of Viols ( Delphian Records) *''H ...
. She has also accompanied the vocal ensemble ''
I Fagiolini I Fagiolini is a British vocal ensemble specialising in early music and contemporary music. Founded by Robert Hollingworth at Oxford in 1986, the group won the UK Early Music Network’s Young Artists’ Competition in 1988 and a Royal Philharmo ...
''. Markland has run Masterclasses for schools, including at
Monkton Combe School Monkton Combe School is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school), in the village of Monkton Combe near Bath in Somerset, England. History Monkton Combe School was founded in 1868 by the Revd. Francis Pocock, a former curate ...
near Bath in 1998.


Soprano

In 1986, while studying at Oxford, Markland became a founding member of the vocal ensemble ''I Fagiolini.'' She subsequently toured and recorded extensively with the group, which specialises in
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
and
contemporary music Contemporary music is whatever music is produced at the current time. Specifically, it could refer to: Genres or audiences * Adult contemporary music * British contemporary R&B * Christian adult contemporary * Christian contemporary hit radio * Con ...
and has received a number of awards. She is a founding member of
Tenebrae Tenebrae (—Latin for 'darkness') is a religious service of Western Christianity held during the three days preceding Easter Day, and characterized by a gradual extinguishing of candles, and the ''strepitus'' or "loud noise" in the total darkn ...
, The Finzi Singers and the
Britten Sinfonia Britten Sinfonia is a chamber orchestra ensemble based in Cambridge, UK. It was created in 1992, following an initiative from Eastern Arts and a number of key figures including Nicholas Cleobury, who recognised the need for an orchestra in the ...
Voices, and has performed with
The Sixteen The Sixteen (previously known as the Symphony of Harmony and Invention) are a British choir and period instrument orchestra. Founded by Harry Christophers, they started as an unnamed group of sixteen friends in 1977, giving their first bille ...
, The Monteverdi Choir, The
Dunedin Consort Dunedin Consort is a baroque music ensemble based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History The group was founded in 1995 by Susan Hamilton and Ben Parry. In 2003, the group chose John Butt as its conductor. Butt shared the title of co-artistic directo ...
, Trinity Baroque, Les Arts Florissants,
La Grande Chapelle La Grande Chapelle is a Spanish vocal and instrumental ensemble of early sacred music, founded in 2005. Their name was taken from the musical chapel from Burgundy, where musicians like Nicolás Gombert, Philippe Rogier and Mateo Romero participated ...
, The Scholars’ Baroque Ensemble, Pixels Ensemble and the
BBC Singers The BBC Singers is a professional British chamber choir, employed by the BBC. Its origins can be traced to 1924. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time profes ...
.


Radio and television

Markland appeared throughout the 1982 BBC Young Musician of the Year series and in subsequent years as an interviewed guest in 1984 and as a judge in 2010 for the keyboards category final. She was interviewed on
BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...
's ''Meridian'' shortly after winning the competition, she was the subject of a BBC documentary feature on past competition winners in 1984, twice again in 1986, and then in 1988. She presented a series of
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 ...
’s ''Young Artists’ Forum'' highlights in 1995. On the subject of gifted children, she was interviewed on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's ''
Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...
'' programme in September 2010 and in ''I was a Child Prodigy'' (2008). She has performed live on BBC Radio 3's '' In Tune'' in April 2016.


Audio recordings


Filmography


References


Bibliography


External links


Winners of the BBC Young Musician of the Year
{{DEFAULTSORT:Markland, Anna 1964 births Living people British classical pianists British sopranos British women classical pianists 21st-century British classical pianists 21st-century English women musicians English people of Irish descent Musicians from Merseyside Entertainers from Wallasey People educated at Chetham's School of Music Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Decca Records artists Associates of the Royal College of Music 21st-century British women pianists