Biography
British pianist Simon Callaghan‘s intelligent and compelling performances both on the concert platform and in the recording studio are quickly earning him a reputation as an exciting and versatile artist of the new generation. Performance highlights include Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, Liszt’s First Concerto with the RLPO, a duo recital at Wigmore Hall, a chamber music tour of South Korea and a gala concert with ENO principals. He has also broadcast on BBC Radio and has appeared on ITV and BBC Television.
Simon Callaghan is equally at home performing the mainstream repertoire as in lesser-known pieces, frequently presenting works by Sterndale Bennett, Parry and Kapustin among others, in his recital programmes. His recent CD of English piano music on the De Rode Pomp label received rave reviews, including the following comment from musicweb-international (2009):
“an essential purchase…one can ask nothing more…stunning playing”
Simon has a vast concerto repertoire and in 2010/11 performed works by Beethoven, Chopin, Gershwin, Prokofieff, Rachmaninoff and Saint-Saens. He also worked in chamber music with Jack Liebeck, the Sacconi, Maggini and Carducci Quartets and Prunella Scales. In addition to this he appeared several times as conductor in collaborations with Timothy West, more recently in Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale.
The 2011/12 season sees Simon give numerous solo and chamber music recitals throughout the UK and abroad, including three weeks at the Banff Centre in Canada and collaborations with the Barbirolli Quartet, Giovanni Guzzo and Samuel and Timothy West. Simon will also record a two-disc set of Delius’s orchestral works in arrangements for two pianos (with Hiro Takenouchi) will be released by SOMM in January 2012 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Following his studies at Chetham’s School of Music with Bernard Roberts, Simon was awarded a full scholarship to study with Yonty Solomon at the Royal College of Music, from where he graduated with first class honours and won numerous prizes. He has also received guidance from Noretta Conci, Claude Frank, Stephen Hough and Frank Wibaut. Simon has taken awards at the Bromsgrove International Competition, Jean Françaix Concours (Paris) and the Liverpool Young Musician of the Year, and is grateful to the Craxton Memorial Trust and to his sponsors for their continued support.
