PrettyInScarlett

This year I finally made time to go to the It's All About Piano festival at the Institut Français in London. Now 4 years old, the festival seems to be ever stronger than when I attended in 2013 - and also more affordable: all my events were £5 per ticket. This year, the festival introduced a 'Come and Play' event for pianists of grade 6 or above - selected pianists to play, presented by Erica Worth of Pianist Magazine . I jumped at the challenge, applied, forgot all about it in the intervening few months, then received an invite! Very exciting - a second opportunity to play for a paying audience. I'd also bought tickets for concerts by Jonas Vitaud and Eliane Reyes .  Eliane Reyes in particular was amazing. Due to train times, I arrived at the 'Come and Play' event a little late but in time to hear half of Zala Kravos ' performance. Zala is 15, studies with Maria João Pires and is clearly a pro in the making. I heard her performances of Brahms...

Following on from a promotion in Pianist magazine (then discovering the value of the tickets!), on Saturday I went for a day to the Institut Français ' new weekend festival, It's All About Piano . After a very picturesque journey through the snowy countryside, I arrived at the Institut's building on Queensberry Place in plenty of time for the 1pm recital by Guillaume Vincent . I hadn't read about any of the pianists I saw, though Vincent's biography is pretty impressive, including a string of prizes. The recital started with a new work for my ears, Alkan's Sonatine Op. 61 . I really enjoyed this - mix of virtuosic passages, more moderate, melodious sections and a good dose of humour. There followed a selection of Rachmaninov's Préludes , however at this point the recital became somewhat uneven. Most of the Préludes were performed with conviction, although running almost continuously; here and during the concluding B Minor Sonata by Liszt, Vincent showed pe...