U.Va. Music Department Hosts British Classical Pianist on Sept. 29

The McIntire Department of Music of the University of Virginia’s College of Arts & Sciences will present a solo piano recital by Martin Jones, one of Great Britain’s most highly regarded solo pianists, on Sunday at 8 p.m. in Old Cabell Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.

London’s Gramophone magazine has called Jones “a pianist of a beguiling fluency and affection, sympathetic to the widest variety of material” and described his piano work as “being of an exemplary taste and clarity, yet also blessed with a no less distinctive style and character.”

The program will feature the U.S. premiere of Bruce P. Mahin’s “Paris Préludes, Nos. 1, 2, 7 and 12” and will include Igor Stravinsky’s “L’Oiseau de Feu”; Ferruccio Busoni’s “Two Elegies, nos. 6 and 2”; Claude Debussy “Images, book 2”; Samuel Barber’s “Nocturne, Op. 33”; and Richard Rodney Bennett’s ‘Noctuary.”

Jones studied at London's Royal Academy of Music with several distinguished classical pianists, including Guido Agosti, Guy Jonson and Gordon Green.

In 1968, Jones won the Dame Myra Hess Award, named for the renowned British pianist, and has been highly regarded in the international arena since his debuts at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and in New York’s Carnegie Hall. He has performed with various orchestras throughout the world, including the London Festival Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and he continues to remain in demand for recitals and concerto performances on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Since 1988, Jones has made many recordings for the classical label Nimbus Records, including the complete solo piano works of Felix Mendelssohn, the sonatas of Alun Hoddinott and works by Johannes Brahms, Debussy, Percy Grainger and Karol Szymanowski.

He has held several academic appointments and has served on the jury of major piano competitions, including the William Kapell International Piano Competition at the University of Maryland.

The Eleanor Shea Music Trust supports the Martin Jones concert.

Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of the Lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda. Parking is available in at the Central Grounds Parking Garage, or in the lots off University Avenue at the University Corner. Handicapped parking is available in the C1 parking lot or in designated spaces on McCormick Avenue.

For information, call the McIntire Department of Music at 434-924-3052.