Gabriel Prokofiev (yes, he is the grandson of Sergei) will have his Concerto for Minimoog Synthesizer and Orchestra performed as part of the Masterworks 3: Double Take event in Asheville, NC. This US premiere will take place on 14th November, 2pm and 8pm at First Baptist Church of Asheville, and […]
Musicians
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The Demon Box electromagnetic field synth, a successful Kickstarter project, has now gone on general release. This groundbreaking instrument was featured in a one-night multimedia performance by Suzanne Ciani and the Eternal Research team in San Francisco. The show — Rite of the Demon: Summer — blended live electronic performance, […]
This year’s New Orleans International Piano Competition, whose 30th edition ran from July 18-26, has announced its winners. In first place came Evgeny Konnov (Russia), followed by Shangru Du (China) and Adria Ye (USA). The Jury Discretionary Award when to Yu-Ang Fan (China). The Best Performance of the Commissioned Work […]
Rick Wakeman is well-known internationally for his virtuous keyboard performances in bands such as Yes and The Strawbs as well as his own solo projects. What may not be so widely known is that he composed music for several UK television programmes, including drama Lytton’s Diary, The Avengers, Paddles Up, […]
BBC Radio 2’s popular Piano Room sessions return in February, with some big name music performers taking part at the famous Maida Vale studios. It features sixteen performances over four weeks (Monday to Thursday each week) with a highlight show each Friday. The lineup is as follows: This year’s line-up […]
Lang Lang is one of the most famous pianists in the world, but he’s also one of the most polarising. The reasons people dislike or criticise him tend to fall into a few broad categories: musical, personal, and cultural. Here are some reasons why this might be. Musical and Artistic Criticism Overly Showy or […]
Roberta Flack, world renowned vocalist and talented piano player, has died aged 88. Although she was probably best known for her powerful, soulful vocal abilities, she was also a skilled and diverse, classically-trained pianist, having studied the instrument from an early age. Early Life Roberta Flack was born on February 10, […]
The prestigious international Van Cliburn piano competition, now in its seventeen year, sees 77 pianists representing 22 countries and regions selected to perform during the event, which runs from the 16th to the 22nd March this year. The 77 were selected from an applicant pool of 340 pianists, and will […]
BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room feature will return again this year, featuring live and intimate performances from sixteen artists during February. Every Monday through Thursday between 3rd and 27th February on Vernon Kay’s mid-morning show, renowned artists will perform at London’s BBC Maida Vale Studios, with accompaniment from The BBC […]
Fans of both surreal-yet-intelligent comedy and music would do well to pay attention to Bill Bailey, if they aren’t already. The nearly-60-year-old Brit is a comedian, musician, actor and presenter. He is a classically trained musician and can play a plethora of keyboard, string, wind and other instruments, including some […]
In around 2006, Kelly Osbourne had a fictional synthesiser tattoo on her right arm. That’s about a good an image as we’ve got of it. We’ve used a bit of AI to have a crack at getting a closer look at it: As you can see, it’s a rather odd, […]
A collection of music performances discovered in May 2023. Christos Kalkanis — White Song A haunting yet relaxing piece of synthesised music featuring human-generated percussive effects, piano, textured synths and more. I will definitely be checking out more of Christos’s work, and if it’s as good as this, it’s a […]
Biography Pepito Arriola was born on the 14th of December, 1897. A careful investigation of his ancestry reveals that no less than twelve of his forefathers and relations have been pronouncedly musical. His father was a physician, but his mother was a musician. His early musical training was given to […]
We’ve just heard that Rick Wakeman is a headline act at next year’s Stone Free Festival (18/19 June 2016, O2 Arena, London). As part of the 12-hour-per-day multi-stage festival, Rick will be performing the album “The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table” in […]
Update: Just realised the post in question is nearly four-and-a-half years old. Apparently, though, it’s OK for a “scrapbooker” to make a six-figure annual salary, but not a piano teacher. We tend to let people alone here at Piano & Synth Magazine, but when we read this rant (passed on […]
Teenager Ryan Green missed out on a place in The Voice UK after he failed to secure a single vote from the four-strong judging panel at the first blind audition in the BBC’s reality show. The judges seemed torn, and due to not being able to see the 16-year-old, hadn’t […]
At first glance it may seem like an unlikely pairing – a virtuoso Chinese pianist and an iconic metal band teaming up to perform together. Yet that’s exactly what Metallica and Lang Lang are going to do at this year’s Grammy awards, being held on 26th January. “This performance will […]
Sad to announce that we’ve read confirmation that jazz/R&B/fusion/funk keyboardist legend George Duke has passed away, aged 67. Duke was being treated for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia but lost the battle yesterday (5th August), his record label Concord-Telarc confirmed. It follows a difficult year in which his wife Corine died. His […]
Yamaha has announced a number of pianists who will perform at its sixth International Piano Series to be held at The Malvern Theatres in Worcestershire, England. The series commences on 18th October with John Lill performing works by Haydn, Chopin, Beethoven and Brahms. The Malvern recital is to form a […]
Quach Hoang Nhi, aged 9, beat 21 other candidates aged between 7 and 9 in Group D of the Mozart International Piano Competition 2013, held in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday. They were marked on their ability to play a sonata piece judged to be difficult for their age. Quach Hoang Nhi […]