My new book The Piano – a History in 100 Pieces comes out in July and I’ll be marking its launch with a concert on 23 July at Wigmore Hall, for a long time my favourite concert hall.

The programme is drawn from pieces discussed in the book (the photo on the right gives a glimpse of the cover).  In the first half of the concert I’ll be playing a selection of solo piano pieces, and then I’ll be joined by violinist Maria Wloszczowska, Felix Tanner and Philip Higham for Fauré’s C minor piano quartet, a piece of chamber music which holds many happy memories for me. The whole programme – around 70 minutes, without an interval  – is given in detail on the Wigmore website.

Information about July concerts has only just gone up on the website – in these unusual times, the rules change so frequently and unpredictably that it’s pointless to advertise events too far in advance. On Monday, when the government said that restrictions would be ongoing until 19 July, I held my breath in case July concerts would have to be cancelled. Luckily that didn’t happen, but ticket numbers are still limited. Currently at Wigmore Hall, tickets are offered first to Friends of Wigmore Hall, by ballot, and then to the general public. You can join the Friends in order to be in the ballot, of course – you’d always have access to priority booking.

I first played at Wigmore Hall as a child, in the finals of the National Junior Piano-Playing Competition. It’s startling to realise that I have been playing there (on and off) for over half a century!