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...

Something of a trend towards piano groups/similar for amateurs seems to be going on at the moment (excellent! definitely a more is more scenario!), with features on blogs such as Practising the Piano and The Cross-Eyed Pianist . The forthcoming issue of Pianist Magazine, issue 79, will feature an article on piano groups, for which I contributed some material regarding both Ottawa Piano Group and Durham Amateur Pianists . More information on the forthcoming magazine can be found here .