LISTENING TO TCHAIKOVSKY: Béla Hartmann uses his knowledge of Eastern Europe to argue against the banning of all Russian culture following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
VIDEO PODCAST: Slava Ukraini! - recorded on 24 February 2022, the day the world woke up to the news that Vladimir Putin's Russian forces had invaded Ukraine. A fifty minute video which also features Caitríona O'Leary and Eric Fraad discussing their new film Island of Saints, and pays tribute to Joseph Horovitz, Malcolm Troup and Maria Nockin.
PODCAST: Join Jenna Orkin, Maria Nockin, John Daleiden, Gerald Fenech, Julian Jacobson, Patrick Maxwell, Giuseppe Pennisi and Mike Wheeler for a fascinating fifty-minute audio only programme.
Japanese pianist Tadashi Imai began his studies, aged eleven, with Kazuyo Ueda and Mieko Nakagawa. By the age of fourteen, he had already won three awards. At the Toho Gakuen College of Music in Tokyo, he studied piano with Hiroshi Tajika and Hidemitsu Hayashi, and chamber music with Shuku Iwasaki, and won further awards. A scholarship enabled him to study at the Texas Christian University in the USA, with Tamas Ungar. This led to further prizes, including first prize at the Grand Prix International Chopin Competition, and to a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London - piano with Christopher Elton and chamber music with Clifford Benson and Michael Dussek.
He has performed many concerti, including Stravinsky's piano concerto, Tchaikovsky No 1, Chopin No 1 and Rachmaninov No 3, has given recitals at Suntory Hall, Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall, and has broadcast for BBC Radio 3. He has collaborated with numerous distinguished musicians, and works as accompanist for many competitions, festivals and masterclasses.
Further information: www.tadashi-imai.com
Ensemble. Rapturous Praises - Yasmin Rowe, Sarah Sew and Tadashi Imai at London's Wigmore Hall, heard by Bill Newman
Ensemble. Most Memorable - A recital by Soojin Han and Tadashi Imai impresses Mike Wheeler
CD Spotlight. An Ideal Exponent - Eniko Magyar plays English viola music, recommended by Gerald Fenech. '... beautifully executed and superbly recorded ...'