Chetham’s International Piano Summer School

Drop in practice workshop
2026-08-16 08:45 - 09:30 (Europe/London) | G06
The final ‘drop -in’ morning class on part one – come along for helpful tips on different approaches to practise. Don’t miss this chance to get advice on any aspect of piano playing.

Teaching session 1
2026-08-16 08:45 - 11:00
As all members of the faculty teach throughout the school, don’t miss the opportunity to listen to the amazing lessons.

Alexander Technique Group and Individual Classes
2026-08-16 08:45 - 17:00 | Gym
The main principles of the Alexander technique are:
“how you move, sit and stand affects how well you function”
“the relationship of the head, neck and spine is fundamental to your ability to function optimally”
“becoming more mindful of the way you go about your daily activities is necessary to make changes and gain benefit”
“the mind and body work together intimately as one, each constantly influencing the other”

Don’t miss the opportunity to work with James Crow in either group classes or individual session. It is possible to book several sessions of groups and/or individual lessons. Book early to avoid disappointment.

https://pianosummerschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Alexander-delights-from-young-pianist.mp4

Stoller Hall Professional Film Recording
2026-08-16 09:00 - 12:00
With glorious acoustics, a beautifully tuned Model D Steinway awaits your touch, while premium recording technology ensures the perfect setting for your music With the outstanding Mill Media in the award winning Stoller Hall. Please book early as spaces are limited.

Junior Course 'drop in' practice workshop
2026-08-16 09:30 - 10:15 | G06
A great way to set up the day with tips on every aspect of piano practising from a member of the faculty. Drop in for 5 minutes or the whole workshop and learn from listening to everyone. Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity!

Scales and exercises 'drop in' workshop
2026-08-16 10:15 - 11:00 | G06
Come along for the final class on part one to fuel your progress with a daily workshop devoted to scales and exercises—vital tools for fluency and technical mastery.
Drop in for 5 minutes or come for the whole class – everyone welcome!

Adult Amateur Workshop
2026-08-16 11:30 - 13:00 | G06
A chance for all adult amateur pianists to come and play in a supportive atmosphere, with Susan Bettaney. Come and play a bar, a phrase or a complete piece – on a wonderful Grand piano kindly donated by Forsyth Music Shop. Get help with performance nerves – many participants who thought they would never have the courage to play come back year after year, including some making a recording in Stoller Hall and taking performance diplomas!

Teaching session 2
2026-08-16 11:30 - 13:00
As individual lessons continue apace, take full advantage of the ‘open door’ policy on the summer school.

Lunchtime Recital - Yuanfan Yang
2026-08-16 13:45 - 14:30 | Stoller Hall
The final lunchtime recital on part one.
We are thrilled to welcome back Yuanfan Yang on the faculty and to perform a solo recital.
“…exceptionally fine for a pianist of any age…brilliantly
executed, beautifully organised, breathless in its
excitement and deeply affecting in its sentiments”.
— International Piano Magazine
Yuanfan Yang is establishing himself as one of today’s most interesting and distinctive voices, as an award-winning multi-faceted pianist, composer, and improviser. His interpretations of Schumann and Liszt ‘rivalled those of the young Ashkenazy’ (International Piano Magazine), and his own compositions have been praised for their ‘soulful poignancy’ in The Observer.
Luke Faulkner Work tbc
Chopin Barcarolle in F sharp, Op. 60
Chopin Polonaise-Fantasie in A flat, Op. 61
Y. Yang Improvisations on themes and styles suggested by the audience

Tickets available through the Stoller Hall. Free to all summer school participants and observers.

The Art of Four Hands workshop
2026-08-16 14:45 - 15:30 | G06
A new daily workshop dedicated to the art of piano duo playing – both duets and 2 pianos.
Bring your duo ready to perform, or simply enjoy the thrill of sightreading together in a supportive atmosphere. Everyone welcome – there will always be someone ready to join you at the piano.
Do drop in and explore the wonderfully rich duo repertoire.
Kathryn Stott and Matthew McLachlan, 2025

Teaching session 3
2026-08-16 14:45 - 17:00
The final session for individual lessons. Teachers on all courses will be working throughout the school.

Junior Course 'drop in' performance class
2026-08-16 15:30 - 16:15 | G06
The final performance class on part one! Don’t miss this opportunity to perform in front of friends on the Junior Course. Pop in anytime you are free.

'Drop in' performance class
2026-08-16 16:15 - 17:00 | G06
The final opportunity on part one to perform in this informal setting, to an audience of supportive participants.

Participant recitals
2026-08-16 17:00 - 18:00
All participants have the opportunity to perform on one of the concert grand pianos in the recital rooms. Steinway, Schimmel, Bösendorfer, Yamaha and Bechstein are some of the models available.
Make sure to sign up when applying online.

Carole Nash Recital Hall

Adam Swayne Recital
2026-08-16 19:00 - 20:00 | Stoller Hall
Adam Swayne has created an acclaimed tribute to honour those who fell or endured the tragedies of 9/11. His program marks the 25th anniversary by offering reflection, catharsis, intimacy, community and hope for audiences in the 2026-27 concert season.
Throughout the recital, voices from a diverse range of American communities are heard, with three focussed on private reflections of 9/11. These include African American composer Karen Walwyn, gay New York composer David Del Tredici, and a new work by Kevin Malone: “Sudden Memorials”. This 30-minute composition captures in sound the instant and fleeting memorials that friends and relatives leave at the scene of a tragedy. The work embraces polystylism, bringing further inclusivity into the narrative, and asks the pianist to use theatrical gestures and improvisation as part of the performance. Alongside three pioneering works by Henry Cowell, a very slow piece by Scott Joplin called “Solace” completes the programme by challenging the stereotype projected onto this composer during the twentieth century.

Reflections on 9/11 (2008) Karen Walwyn
3. Anguish
6. Burial

Karen Walwyn was the first female African American pianist/ composer to receive the Steinway Artist award. Her 2-CD series for Albany Records entitled ‘Dark Fires’ includes premiere recordings of works by American composers of African descent. ‘Reflections on 9/11’ received its premiere at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and won a Global Award Gold Medal of Excellence.
Walwyn is also an expert on the music of Florence Price, having made the first recording of Price’s Piano Concerto with the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble. She is currently Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music.
www.karenwalwyn.com

The Tides of Manaunaun (1917) Henry Cowell (1897 – 1965)
Aeolian Harp (1923)

In between the three works that respond directly to the 9/11 attacks, I wanted to programme pieces that draw upon American traditions. For me, Henry Cowell represents the traditions of innovation, experimentation and marginalisation. Alongside his work as a composer, pianist and theorist, Cowell was John Cage’s teacher. He was also imprisoned for four years in San Quentin State Prison on “morals” charges (Cowell was bisexual).
These two works draw upon piano techniques that Cowell could fairly claim to have invented. They also draw upon romantic and folk styles (Manaunaun was the Irish god of the sea).

Sudden Memorials (2021) Kevin Malone

The idea to write an eighth work about 9/11 came up during an April 2021 video call with my friend and long-time collaborator, the pianist Adam Swayne. I hadn’t composed a piano work about 9/11, and the 20th anniversary of these tragic events was approaching. Memorial works were tentatively scheduled for performance, but the COVID-19 pandemic’s social distancing remit made commemoration difficult.

In 2006, I took a photo in Shanksville, Pennsylvania of a makeshift wire fence near the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93. On the fence, visitors had been attaching objects of remembrance, loss, honour and thanks since the crash. The photo captured a sudden, transient moment of hundreds of items, some carefully designed and brought to the site, while others were spontaneously offered when visitors were moved upon seeing it.

Sudden Memorials was completed on 31 May, 2021, and has a duration of 30 minutes, with an option for the pianist to improvise while looking at the photo for an additional two minutes. During concert performances, the pianist is asked to seek invisible memorial objects from within the piano, the score and the air. These gestures coincide the start of a subsequent musical “object”, some of which sound intimate or hesitant, others being extrovert and jarring.

The work is in two parts. Part 1 ends with a rowdy, communal wall (fence) of noise. Part 2 brings the listener to a mysterious resonance which attempts to remember exactly what was lost, and yet, somehow, end the piece, but finds it difficult. The pianist is attempting the unobtainable.

Sudden Memorials is dedicated to Adam who gave the premiere at Wigmore Hall, London on 11 Sept 2021 at 1pm, the exact hour in Britain 20 years on the from the beginning of 9/11. The work was released on the Coviello label in September 2021.

Kevin Malone is a composer of polystylistic, cross-genre music for electronics, solo singers and instrumentalists, choirs, orchestras and opera companies. His work demonstrates acute awareness of social concerns and global events. He was Professor of Social and Autoethnographic Composition at the University of Manchester until his retirement in 2024.
www.opusmalone.com

Solace (1909) Scott Joplin (1868 – 1917)

Drawing on an almost entirely different American tradition, Scott Joplin’s work is subtitled ‘A Mexican Serenade for piano’, although it is closer to other musical forms from Latin America – the Cuban habañera in particular, and also the Argentine tango, alongside hints of the African American ragtime for which Joplin is best known. However, this unusually introspective piece provides an insight into Joplin’s wider output, including his sole surviving opera ‘Treemonisha’.

Missing Towers (2004) David Del Tredici

Subtitled ‘Perpetual Canon’, this work thematises the emptiness created by the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York, the city in which the composer lives and works. The canon is in two parts (symbolising the two towers). According to Tim Rutherford-Johnson, who wrote the liner notes for 9/11:20, the work is “remarkable for its poise and humility in the face of unfathomable tragedy”.
www.daviddeltredici.com

9/11:20 is the CD of this recital, released on Coviello Contemporary in 2021. All artist royalties will be donated to the US-UK Fulbright Commission, whose mission is to advance knowledge, promote civic engagement and develop compassionate leaders through education exchange between the peoples of the US and the UK.

Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen Recital
2026-08-16 20:30 - 21:30 | Stoller Hall
Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen are passionate advocates for the wide range
of four hands and two piano repertoire.
They began performing together in 2001 since when they have firmly established
themselves as one of the leading piano duo partnerships.
Their close collaboration stems from a shared teacher, the inspirational Irina
Zaritskaya, with whom they both studied at the Royal Colle ge of Music. Their
friendship dates from 1987 during a visit of students from the Gnessin School in
Moscow to the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey.
Charles & Katya have appeared in concerts together at many of the UK’s major
festivals – Cheltenham, Leicester, Ryedale, Music in Country Churches, Oxford
Chamber Music and Machynlleth. Their BBC Radio3 broadcasts include the
Brahms Haydn Variations from St George’s Bristol and Fauré for the BBC1 Andrew
Marr Show.
Internationally they have performed at the Moscow Conservatoire, the Elverum
Festival, Norway and in Mexico City playing the solo parts in the Mozart and
Poulenc Double concertos with the UNAM Orchestra conducted by Jan Latham
Koenig.
The duo released a highly acclaimed first recording for Quartz in 2016, featuring
Stravinsky’s two piano ballets, the Rite of Spring and Petrushka, with a dedication
to the memory of their teacher.
Together they are the Artistic Directors and founders of the London Piano Festival, which is held annually at Kings Place.
Messiaen Visions de l’Amen
Amen de la Création
Amen des étoiles, de la planète à l’anneau
Amen de l’agonie de Jésus
Amen du Désir
Amen des Anges, des Saints, du chant des oiseaux
Amen du Jugement
Amen de la Consommation
Free to all summer school participants. Tickets will be available through the Stoller Hall Website.

Cabaret
2026-08-16 22:00 | Oglesby Atrium
The traditional end to the final night on the summer school. Always very popular with faculty and participants alike. You might see Noriko Ogawa playing the violin as a nun, or Peter Donohoe playing Chopin in a pink dressing gown and using an orange instead of his fingers! Always amusing and a late night license adds to the fun!! All held around the bar in the Atrium.

Final morning participant recitals
2026-08-17 09:00 - 11:15
As CIPSS part 1 draws to a close, we look forward to participant recitals throughout the school for over 2 hours. Friends and family welcome to come in and support.

Junior Course Final Presentation Concert
2026-08-17 09:00 - 11:15 | Oglesby Atrium
As CIPSS part one draws to a close, we look forward to all the Junior pianists performing and being presented with a certificate of participation from Course Director and Head of Keyboard at Chetham’s – Murray McLachlan . Friends and family very welcome.

Chetham’s School of Music Atrium

Stoller Hall Professional Film Recording
2026-08-17 09:00 - 12:00
Stunning acoustics, a fabulous Model D Steinway is tuned and ready for you to play and top of the range recording equipment provide the perfect conditions. With the outstanding Mill Media in the award winning Stoller Hall. Please book early as spaces are limited.

Trinity exams and diplomas
2026-08-17 09:00 - 14:00 | Carole Nash Hall
An opportunity for participants to take a Trinity College of London exam or performing diploma on the summer school. Specialist examiners will listen to the performances in the wonderful Carole Nash Hall on a model D Steinway. Full details are on the website here.

End of CIPSS Part One
2026-08-17 11:30
Part one of the course ends after the morning recitals around 11.30am. For participants staying on to part two it is an amazing opportunity to head off to the teaching rooms which are all empty and spend a happy hour or two on the glorious grand pianos! For those leaving its time to exchange contact details to keep in touch until next year!

CIPSS Part 2 Registration
2026-08-17 13:00 - 15:00 | Oglesby Atrium
Please arrive in plenty of time to settle in before the opening recital at 17.00.
If you are a participant on the Junior Piano, Adult Amateur Course there are welcome meetings for each course at 3.30pm. Please do try to arrive in plenty of time so that you can come along.
Anyone who is staying for both parts does not need to register again – enjoy all of the empty teaching rooms!
If you are unable to arrive in time for the registration please email info@pianosummerschool.com to confirm your expected arrival time.

Welcome meeting for Junior Piano Course
2026-08-17 15:30 - 16:30 | Carole Nash Hall
A chance to meet other young pianists on the course with course director and Head of Keyboard, Murray McLachlan. We look forward to getting to know you all over the course and hearing you play.
We are thrilled that Alison Wise will take all the children in a fun dalcroze session during the hour – an ideal way to relax and make friends!

Welcome for Adult Amateur Course
2026-08-17 15:30 - 16:30 | G06
Come and say hello to other Adult Amateur pianists on the course and to meet Kathryn Page who will answer any questions you may have about the week. You will meet many pianists who are attending for the very first time as well as many ‘regular’ participants. We look forward to getting to know you all during the course, and of course to hearing you play.

Opening recital with Mookie Lee- Menuhin and Jeremy Menuhin
2026-08-17 17:00 - 18:00 | Stoller Hall
We are thrilled to welcome Mookie Lee- Menuhin and Jeremy Menuhin for the opening recital of part two.
“As if entirely of one mind” (Jessica Duchen) captures the essence of every performance by the dynamic Menuhin Duo. Whether performing on two pianos or side-by-side at the same keyboard, Mookie and Jeremy play as one, interpreting the classical repertoire with devotion and joy. The unique soundscape of the two-piano repertoire allows the Duo great flexibility of range, color, and depth in their performances of works by Mozart, Brahms, Schumann, Lutoslawski, Bartok, and many others.
While exploring existing literature by major composers, the Duo also incorporates music composed by Jeremy into their performances. A former student of Nadia Boulanger, Jeremy has transcribed the great chamber works of Schubert and Brahms, and created original repertoire specifically suited to the Menuhin Duo.
Schubert-Menuhin Transformation of the variation movement from the quartet, ‘ Death and the Maiden’ (2014)
Jeremy Menuhin Suite for Two Pianos in the Baroque Manner (2016)
Prélude
Fuga
Siciliano
Invention
Sarabande
Gigue
Brahms Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56
Tickets available from Stoller Hall. Free to all summer school participants and observers.

Stephen Kovacevich Recital
2026-08-17 19:30 - 20:30 | Stoller Hall
Stephen Kovacevich, hailed worldwide as one of the greatest interpreters of Beethoven and Schubert, brings a lifetime of artistry to the stage. From his electrifying debut at Wigmore Hall to decades of performances with the world’s leading orchestras, Kovacevich has captivated audiences with his fearless intensity, profound insight, and uncompromising devotion to musical truth. This recital is not just a concert — it is a rare chance to witness a master whose interpretations have shaped generations of pianists and listeners alike.
We are honoured to welcome him to perform in Stoller Hall for the first time.
Free to all summer school participants and observers.
Programme to include
Schubert Piano Sonata No.21 in B flat major D.960 Molto moderato Andante sostenuto Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza – Trio Allegro ma non troppo – Presto
Public tickets available through the Stoller Hall.

Welcome reception and late night jazz.
2026-08-17 21:45 | Oglesby Atrium
A chance to meet friends, old and new as we celebrate 25 years of CIPSS. Enjoy a complimentary glass of bubbly on us and savour the atmosphere of ‘the friendliest piano summer school’!
Everyone is welcome to enjoy the ‘Jazz Room’ – an intimate space for both playing and listening to participants playing jazz. The space will be available every evening after the last faculty recital. Not to be missed!
A short clip from the incredible Steven Osborne and Nikki Iles who enjoyed lots of fun in the Jazz room in 2025.
https://pianosummerschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Jazz-lesson.mp4

Early Morning Warm Ups with Murray
2026-08-18 08:15 - 08:30 | Oglesby Atrium
Begin your CIPSS part 2 with a refreshing concentrated group session!
An early morning series of 15 minute group sessions in the Atrium led by founder and artistic director Murray McLachlan. Open to everyone on the course,the sessions will include a variety of ‘bite size’ projects, concepts and exercises relating to piano well-being and mindset as well as glimpses of repertoire. Embrace the unfamiliar! Look at well-loved music from different perspectives! Above all, start your CIPSS day in style with a real sense of positivity, energy and optimistic purpose.
The atrium

Drop in practice workshop
2026-08-18 08:45 - 09:30 | G06
Start the day with a helpful workshop for everyone who needs a little support with practising.
Everyone welcome – come along with a bar, a chord, or any part of a piece that you would like some advice on from a member of the faculty.
