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The English pianist, Jonathan Plowright, studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where he won Gold Medal in 1983. He was also 'Commonwealth Musician of the Year' and a Fulbright Scholar, and won first prize in the European Piano Competition.
Critics, colleagues and audiences alike have had nothing but praise for Jonathan Plowright's many national and international performances and he has been in demand all over the world as recitalist, appeared with leading orchestras and ensembles and given numerous radio broadcasts.
Jonathan Plowright's most recent recording was for Hyperion's Bach transcriptions series. The twenty five transcriptions by Walter Rummel were released in March 2006 to great critical acclaim. Jonathan’s recording of the Constant Lambert Piano Concerto (which he world premiered in 1988) with David Lloyd Jones and the English Northern Philharmonia for Hyperion in 2005 was Gramophone Editor’s Choice and CD of the Week in both The Sunday Times and ClassicFM.
In 2004 Jonathan Plowright was given the unique honour of an invitation to perform at the 'Rarities of Piano Music" festival in Husum for two consecutive years, and has also been invited back for the 20th Anniversary Festival in August 2006. The live recordings of his performances were featured on two highly acclaimed CDs, the first of which drew the following comment: "In the past few years Jonathan has become a keen advocate of the Polish Romantic repertoire and besides his popular disc of pieces by Chopin, his recording of a rare collection of pieces by Paderewski earned Jonathan an invitation by the Paderewski in Memoriam Foundation to give the closing recital of the Polish Parliament’s 2001 ‘Year of Paderewski’ celebrations in Warsaw."
Jonathan Plowright's recordings featuring the music of the largely forgotten Polish/US emigré Sigismund Stojowski led to a revival of interest in his music after several generations of neglect and attracted considerable attention in the international music press. The discs, on Hyperion Records, were both named 'Record of the Month' in the Polish national music monthly Muzyka 21 and Jonathan was invited to perform with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.
As well as a Weill Hall recital promoted by the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York, Jonathan Plowright has also been invited to perform at a special festival at the Polish Music Centre at the University of Southern California in October 2006 in the presence of Stojowski's surviving family, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of his death and in celebration of their donation of the Stojowski manuscripts and personal papers to the University. The Polish theme continues as future projects for Hyperion include a further addition to the 'Romantic Piano Concerto' series with two by Henryk Melcer, and a solo disc of music by Ignacy Paderewski.
Besides his busy performing schedule Jonathan Plowright is often invited to give master-classes, consultation lessons and prize adjudications at international conservatoires. |
