Kathryn Stott
Kathryn Stott is one of Britain’s most versatile and imaginative musicians. Her curiosity and wide-ranging musical interests have taken her in many different directions, forging a unique career and establishing a rare reputation. A natural collaborator, she is greatly in demand for chamber music alliances, playing with some of the world’s leading instrumentalists, as well as appearing on major international concert platforms in recitals and concerto performances. She has also directed several distinctive concert series and festivals and has built up an extensive and exceptionally varied catalogue of recordings.
Born in Lancashire, she studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Vlado Perlemuter and Nadia Boulanger, then at the Royal College of Music in London with Kendall Taylor. In 1978 she attracted critical attention as a prize-winner at the Leeds International Piano Competition. In addition to her busy career as a performer, she is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, as well as teaching at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester.
As a concerto soloist she enjoys associations with major orchestras in Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong and Australia, and she recently toured Japan with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Among her chamber music partnerships, she has long-standing musical relationships with cellists Yo-Yo Ma, Truls Mørk and Christian Poltéra, with violinist Janine Jansen, and pianist Noriko Ogawa. She has also collaborated with the cellist Natalie Clein and – on the borders of, and beyond, the classical arena – she has developed shared musical interests with the guitar-playing Assad Brothers, bandoneonist Nestor Marconi, double-bassist Edgar Meyer, and the legendary clarinettist Paquito d’Rivera. A close involvement with many leading string quartets has led to regular guest appearances with, amongst others, the Belcea, Skampa and Endellion Quartets, as well as The Lindsays, in whose farewell concert series she was invited to appear.
Kathryn Stott has a special interest in contemporary music and concertos by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Michael Nyman head the impressive list of major world premieres she has given. Along with Noriko Ogawa she gave the first performance of Graham Fitkin’s Circuit for two pianos and orchestra in Manchester, with subsequent performances in Japan, and is recording it on the BIS label.
Her constantly expanding horizons have led her to become a remarkable exponent of tango and other Latin dance music, reflected in her collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma and leading South American musicians on the Grammy Award-winning Sony CD Soul of the Tango (the Music of Astor Piazzolla) and its successor Obrigado Brazil. The release of Obrigado Brazil was accompanied by a hugely successful tour of Japan, the USA and Europe.
In the recording studio she has created an eclectic body of work including the complete solo piano music of Fauré (Hyperion), concertos by Kabalevsky and Lennox Berkeley and solo pieces by Koechlin (Chandos), music by John Foulds and Erwin Schulhoff (BIS), La Habanera featuring music by Ernesto Lecuona (EMI), and a recital of French cello sonatas Paris – La Belle Epoque with Yo-Yo Ma (Sony). Future recording plans include solo music by Smetana and works for cello and piano with Christian Poltéra (both Chandos) and the Dvorák Quintet with the Skampa Quartet (Supraphon). In addition, her performance of Mozart’s D minor Concerto, K466, at Manchester’s ‘Piano 2006’ festival featured as a BBC Music Magazine cover disc.
Kathryn Stott has been the artistic vision behind several major festivals and concert series in the north of England, in which she has played a dual role as director/performer. For ‘Fauré and the French Connection’ (Manchester,1995) she was appointed Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French Government. ‘Out of the Shadows’ featured music by Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn (Liverpool, 1998); ‘Piano 2000’ and ‘Piano 2003’ (The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester) established her reputation as an astute programmer; and in 2004/05 she devised ‘Chopin: the Music and the Legacy’ for Leeds. Her latest such venture was a weekend mini-fest of five concerts under the title ‘Paris’ (Music in the Round, Sheffield, October 06).
Her diverse career remains truly international, as she continues to captivate audiences worldwide with her poetic musicality and engaging personality. Current and future plans include tours of both North and South America, and performances in Australia, Hong Kong and Japan as well as throughout Europe.
Kathy Stott has one daughter, Lucy, and lives in Manchester. In the precious little time she has away from the concert platform and rehearsal studio, she collects black-and-white photographs and studies Italian. One of her most memorable experiences was walking the Great Wall of China, raising funds for Cancer Research.
Kathryn has recently accepted a position on the board of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy fundraising committee.
www.kathrynstott.com
August 2007
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