Back on the road again: pianist James Lisney celebrates his 60th birthday with a concert tour in repertoire from Beethoven & Chopin to Scriabin & Stevenson

James Lisney (Photo: S Maeder)

The pianist James Lisney is celebrating his 60th birthday by going on tour, and the concerts also celebrate Lisney's return to live performance. The concerts, in Norwich, Birmingham Royal Conservatoire, Stoller Hall, Manchester, St George's Bristol, Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham, Rose Theatre, Tunbridge Wells and St James' Piccadilly (presented by the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe), will feature works that are the fruits of the pandemic, including Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and Scriabin's Vers la flamme, alongside music that he has performed for four decades including Chopin's Sonata in B flat minor and Ronald Stevenson's Peter Grimes Fantasy, and Lisney describes the programming as 'a gift to myself'.

Lisney's ...petits concerts series at the 1901 Arts Club in London will be resuming this month. These concerts, inspired by the annual recitals given by Charles-Valentin Alkan at the Erard Showroom in Paris in the 1870s are intended to present classical music in an intimate and convivial setting, as well as supporting two charities, Help Musicians and The Amber Trust (a charity which provides musical opportunities for blind and partially sighted children, and children with more complex needs, of which Lisney is patron).

Full details from James Lisney's website.