Kathryn Stott
Kathryn Stott is one of Britain’s most versatile and imaginative musicians. Her curiosity and wide-ranging musical interests have taken her in many different directions, forging a unique career and establishing a rare reputation. A natural collaborator, she is greatly in demand for chamber music alliances, playing with some of the world’s leading instrumentalists, as well as appearing on major international concert platforms in recitals and concerto performances. She has also directed several distinctive concert series and festivals and has built up an extensive and exceptionally varied catalogue of recordings.
Born in Lancashire, she studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Vlado Perlemuter and Nadia Boulanger, then at the Royal College of Music in London with Kendall Taylor. In 1978 she attracted critical attention as a prize-winner at the Leeds International Piano Competition. In addition to her busy career as a performer, Stott is visiting professor at both the Royal Academy of Music, London and Chethams School of Music, Manchester.
As a concerto soloist she enjoys associations with major orchestras in Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong and Australia, and she recently toured Japan with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Among her chamber music partnerships, she has long-standing musical relationships with cellists Yo-Yo Ma, Truls Mork and Christian Poltéra, with violinist Janine Jansen and pianist Noriko Ogawa. She has also collaborated with the cellist Natalie Clein and – on the borders of, and beyond, the classical arena – she has developed shared musical interests with the guitar-playing Assad Brothers, bandoneonist Nestor Marconi, double-bassist Edgar Meyer, and the legendary clarinettist Paquito d’Rivera. A close involvement with many leading string quartets has led to regular guest appearances with, amongst others, the Belcea, Skampa and Endellion Quartets, as well as The Lindsays, in whose farewell concert series she was invited to appear.
Stott has a special interest in contemporary music and concertos by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Michael Nyman head the impressive list of major world premieres she has given. Along with Noriko Ogawa she gave the first performance of Graham Fitkin’s Circuit for two pianos and orchestra in Manchester, with subsequent performances in Japan, and has recorded it on the BIS label.
Her constantly expanding horizons have led her to become a remarkable exponent of tango and other Latin dance music, reflected in her collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma and leading South American musicians on the Grammy Award-winning Sony CD Soul of the Tango and its successor Obrigado Brazil. The release of Obrigado Brazil was accompanied by a hugely successful tour of Japan, the USA and Europe.
In the recording studio she has created an eclectic body of work including the complete solo piano music of Fauré (Hyperion), concertos by Kabalevsky and Lennox Berkeley and solo pieces by Koechlin (Chandos), music by John Foulds and Erwin Schulhoff (BIS), La Habanera featuring music by Ernesto Lecuona (EMI), and a recital of French cello sonatas Paris – La Belle Epoque with Yo-Yo Ma (Sony). Most recent recordings include solo music by Smetana and works for cello and piano with Christian Poltéra (both Chandos) and a solo piano CD, Dance, (on Chandos). In 2009 Sott was signed as an exclusive artist for the Chandos label for all her solo piano work.
Stott has been the artistic vision behind several major festivals and concert series in the north of England, in which she has played a dual role as director/performer. For ‘Fauré and the French Connection’ (Manchester,1995) she was appointed Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French Government. ‘Out of the Shadows’ featured music by Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn (Liverpool, 1998); ‘Piano 2000’ and ‘Piano 2003’ (The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester) established her reputation as an astute programmer; and in 2004/05 she devised ‘Chopin: the Music and the Legacy’ for Leeds. In 2008 she was appointed Artistic Director of the Manchester Chamber Concert Series and in December she celebrated her 50th birthday with 25 colleagues in a charity gala concert at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Stott is Guest Artistic Director of the chamber festival, Incontri in Terra di Siena from 2010.
Her diverse career remains truly international, as she continues to captivate audiences worldwide with her poetic musicality and engaging personality. Current and future plans include tours of both North and South America, and performances in Australia, Hong Kong and Japan as well as throughout Europe.
Stott has one daughter, Lucy, and lives in Manchester. In the precious little time she has away from the concert platform and rehearsal studio, she collects black-and-white photographs and studies Italian. One of her most memorable experiences was walking the Great Wall of China, raising funds for Cancer Research.
Stott is on the Boards of the Hallé Concerts Society and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy fundraising committee.
www.kathrynstott.com
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