Piano Recital - Joanna MacGregor

EVENT DIRECTOR: Richard Williams

BAR: In Village Hall prior to concert and during the interval

Joanna MacGregor is one of today’s most exciting and innovative of all high-profile musicians. Her solo recitals distil her wide interests, from composing and conducting to commissioning new works and inspiring students through her constantly searching creativity. With an exhilaratingly wide repertoire, Joanna breaks the mould with deftness and insight across all genres. Her programme for Chiddingly Festival includes music of freshness and depth, from Schumann and Chick Corea’s pieces for children to dances by Piazzolla, Bach and Chopin, as well as a homage to the remarkable Nina Simone.

• Bach  -  French Suite no.5 in G major
• Chopin  -  Mazurkas Op.30
• MacGregor  -  For Nina Simone
• Chick Corea  -  Children’s Songs
• Schumann  -  Kinderszenen
• Piazzolla. -  Five Tangos

Joanna MacGregor CBE lives in Chiddingly and is the Music Director of the Brighton Philharmonic, which approaches its centenary in 2025. Described as ‘a brilliant light in the music world,’ Joanna has appeared as concert soloist and orchestral director in over eighty countries, commissioning and premiering landmark works worldwide; 2023 touring includes Europe, Scandinavia, China, US and Australia.  Joanna holds the Dame Myra Hess Chair of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music and has been Artistic Director of Dartington International Summer School, Bath Festival, and Deloitte Ignite at the Royal Opera House. She has released over forty recordings – from Bach and Chopin to John Cage - and her collaborative projects encompass jazz, film, visual art, contemporary dance and electronica, including work with Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney, Brian Eno and Wayne McGregor. A regular broadcaster on TV and radio, from 2015-2021 Joanna chaired the Paul Hamlyn Composers Awards and was a 2019 Booker Prize Judge. In 2020 she performed a complete cycle of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, for his 250th anniversary, and will play a Schubert cycle this autumn. She has been awarded several honorary doctorates and Fellowships, and holds a Master’s degree in her passion, medieval literature; her bestselling series of books for children, PianoWorld, is hailed as ‘a new series for the Millenium.’

Professor Joanna MacGregor CBE FRAM

Dame Myra Hess Chair of Piano

Royal Academy of Music

University of London

Music Director Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra