Stephen Coombs (born 11 July 1960 in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

) is a British pianist who works with orchestras and conductors, as well as performing as a solo artist.

Early life

Coombs first became prominent in music at the age of thirteen, when he won second prize in the English National Piano Competition. Coombs first studied under Joan Slade privately, then

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 ...

at first privately and then at the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

(under 19s section). Finally, he studied with Gordon Green 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 ...

.Profile
allmusic.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Career

Coombs' career was later launched by winning the gold medal at the Liszt International Concourse; a career that continued to develop throughout the 1980s, as Coombs appeared, both in Britain and abroad, with several major orchestras and, in 1989, began recording for Hyperion. In 1992, he began recording for the label's Romantic Piano Concerto series, after which he sporadically recorded further records, all for Hyperion. He has been Director of Music at

The Conservatoire The Conservatoire (formally The Blackheath Conservatoire of Music and the Arts) is an educational charity in Blackheath, on the border of the London boroughs of Greenwich and Lewisham. The Conservatoire of Music and the Arts took on its curren ...

in Blackheath, London and still has an interest in music education as piano professor at both the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

and the

Purcell School for Young Musicians The Purcell School for Young Musicians is a specialist private music school for children, located in the town of Bushey, south Hertfordshire, England, and is the oldest specialist music school in the UK. The school was awarded the UNESCO Mozar ...

. Coombs continues to perform all over the globe and continues to record extensively for the

Hyperion Records Hyperion Records is a British classical music record label. It was independent until February 2023, when it was acquired by the Universal Music Group. Under Universal, Hyperion is one of the three main classical record labels, alongside Decca a ...

label, specialising in Russian music.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coombs, Stephen 1960 births Living people English classical pianists British male classical pianists Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Musicians from Birkenhead 21st-century British classical pianists 21st-century British male musicians