On the last day of the year, I find myself pondering the things that gave me most satisfaction during 2011. To my surprise, I realise that some of my happiest working moments were to do with teaching masterclasses. I say ‘to my surprise’ because I fended off teaching for a long while, thinking it was [...]

One of our Christmas presents this year was Dan Lepard’s Short and Sweet, a wonderful new book of baking recipes – breads, cakes, pies, desserts. The word ‘short’ presumably refers to pastry and not to the book itself, which is notably long (and sweet).
My eye fell almost at once on the cheesecake recipes. I often [...]

Coming back from Edinburgh on the train, I was sitting next to a girl who was knitting something very intricate on four slender knitting needles. She was following a pattern so complicated that she had to pause every other stitch and consult it. Eventually I asked what she was doing.
‘I’m making my Mum’s Christmas present’, she [...]

To King’s Place to hear the Hungarian piano professor Ferenc Rados teach a public masterclass for several chamber groups. I know lots of people who have had memorable lessons with Ferenc Rados in recent years, though I myself hadn’t seen him since I played to him in Prussia Cove quite a few years ago.
Like several [...]

I’m on my way to Scotland for the start of my Mozart Series with violinist Erich Höbarth. On Friday evening we’re playing our opening concert in the Horsecross Concert Hall in Perth, one of Scotland’s newest arts centres.
For this series, I’ve been preparing nearly twenty works by Mozart – duo sonatas and solo piano pieces. [...]