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Performance Confidence weekend with Dr Maria Razumovskaya – Advanced to Diploma – waiting list
19 April @ 7:00 pm - 21 April @ 3:30 pm
Dealing with nerves is something players at every level have to deal with, even advanced players. Perhaps even moreso!
During this weekend course, we will compare the difference between playing to yourself and playing to other people, and how an awareness of these inherent differences can be channelled to improve your confidence when performing. We will look at the importance of understanding how audiences hear and process musical phrases, and explore what this means in practical terms for the performer who is navigating technically complex musical material and repertoire. We will also look at strategies that keep us focussed on what we want to communicate and how to prevent our mind wandering or suggesting that ‘we can’t do it’. Finally, we will learn of the importance of breathing and musical ‘space’, adding this to the performer’s toolkit to help calm nerves and allow them to project confidence.
We are very excited to welcome international concert pianist, Steinway artist, Professor of Academic Studies at Guildhall of Music and Drama and lecturer at the City Literary Institute Dr Maria Razumovskaya to lead this course.
Her exquisite touch… authoritative grandeur, a kaleidoscope of ever changing emotions… intense power [is] set against a sublime poetic vision ~ The Classical Reviewer
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The ‘flowing’ phrase: Composers and performers talk about music ‘flowing’, but do we really know what this means?
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To sing or speak? What kind of ‘narrative’ are we projecting from the keyboard and how does it become embedded in our playing?
Afternoons are spent exploring and enjoying each other’s repertoire, applying new gained knowledge, and confidence, in performance classes – as well as some private practice!
In between the workshop and performance class sessions, there will be time for private practice on one of our beautiful grand pianos. During these sessions, Maria will give one-to-one lessons on our new Steinway to provide individual pointers and tips.
Guests will also:
- Have the chance to play in and observe two performance masterclasses.
- Will receive a one-to-one lesson with Maria.
- Enjoy access to play on our 9 grand pianos anytime between 7am and 8pm. (There are enough pianos to go round that everyone can play a piano at any given time.)
- Experience a private accompanied talk for course participants in the main hall of the family home, performed by Maria.
- Join and socialise with a group 8 fellow piano enthusiasts during lunch and dinner.
- Dine in style with lunches and three course dinners prepared by our fabulous chef.
- Experience the Finchcocks bubble, hailed as a “paradise for pianists” by BBC Music Magazine and stay in a grade 1 listed country manor.
Staggeringly passionate playing. ~ Gramophone
Maria Razumovskaya has been described as a ‘virtuoso story-teller of the piano’ (Le Courrier). She performs at many major international festivals and venues including the Cheltenham Festival, Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Cadogan Hall, Holywell Room, SJE Arts Piano International Series, Lavaux Classique, Zurich Stadt Kultur, Piano City Milan, Paris Musée d’Orsay, Yogyakarta Philharmonia, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, and the Rachmaninov Hall and Skryabin Museum in Moscow.
Razumovskaya’s live performances have been recorded and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and featured as highlights in their ‘Performing Miracles’ series, RTS, Espace 2, Radio Orfeo, and ABC Radio.
Razumovskaya’s debut-disc recorded by Tony Faulkner on the Malachite label was shortlisted for the Liszt Disque Grand Prix, and subsequent recordings for the label have been singled out by international publications such as Pizzicato magazine, and critically praised for the performance’s ‘extraordinary mastery’ [American Record Guide] and ‘staggering passion and lyricism’ [Gramophone]. Further recordings including the works of Busoni, Liszt, CPE Bach and Rachmaninov; Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky.
Chamber music partners include Faina Lushtak, Ilan Schneider, Wolfram Christ, the Alban Berg Quartet, principals of the Berlin Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmonia, Basel Philharmonic, National Opera Orchestra of Paris, and soloists of the Mariinsky Opera, Bolshoi Opera, and Metropolitan Opera. As a faculty and guest artist at international summer schools she has played recitals alongside artists including Nikolai Lugansky, Marc Andre Hamelin, and Piotr Andrezewski; and premiered works by composers including Philippe Hersant.
Passionate about encouraging audiences to share in her curiosity for the stories behind the music and its makers, Razumovskaya’s writings include a monograph on the legendary pianist and pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus (Boydell & Brewer). This was awarded CHOICE Outstanding Title, and ranked ‘world leading in originality, significance and rigour’ by REF. She has also written book chapters (Indiana University Press, Palgrave Macmillan), articles for academic journal, and the wider press including BBC Music, International Piano, Pianist and several other publications.
Maria Razumovskaya received her pianistic training in the class of Rustem Hayroudinoff at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating with Distinction and several prizes. She furthered her studies with Professor Dmitri Alexeev as an Arts and Humanities Research Council doctoral scholar at the Royal College of Music.
She is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Director of Performance at the Music Faculty of Oxford University, a lecturer at the City Literary Institute, guest faculty at several international music academies and festivals, and an external examiner for several institutions.
Maria Razumovskaya is a Steinway Artist.
Her playing is marked by a beguiling warmth of sound, and when called for can draw upon intense drama and exciting pianistic strength, but the absorbing feature of her interpretations is that they always search for the expression of substance beneath the surface.~ Artistic Director, Mr de Vries
For booking enquiries, please contact us on 01580 428080 or fill in the form below.
