Ian Jones (United Kingdom)
Distinguished Professor
Piano
Ian Jones FRCM is Professor of Piano and Deputy Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music in
London. In May 2014 Fellowship of the Royal College of Music was conferred on him by HRH Prince
Charles. His career as a Steinway Artist has taken him to all five continents. Appearances with the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra at London’s Royal Festival Hall and Barbican
Hall include critically acclaimed performances of Rachmaninov’s Second and Third Piano Concertos and
Paganini Rhapsody as well as concertos by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Schumann. He has
appeared in Paris and throughout France as concerto soloist with the Ensemble International and has
performed many of Mozart’s piano concertos in Europe and USA.
A prizewinner at the Leeds International Piano Competition, he also won many prizes, including the
prestigious Chappell Medal, whilst a student at RCM. Other awards include the Vlado Perlemuter Piano
Prize and a special scholarship from the French government inviting him to spend a year in Paris. His
teachers included Maria Curcio, Gyorgy Sebok, Phyllis Sellick, Jerome Lowenthal and Alain Planès.
He has broadcast for radio and television networks in many different countries and his World Première
performances and recordings of music by British composer Rebecca Clarke (on Dutton Digital) have
received much enthusiastic attention on radio and in the music press.
On the recent release of his CD, Chopin: Summer in Nohant (London Independent Records), Classic FM
magazine drew comparison with Rubinstein and Arrau and claimed that “Jones possesses the ‘pearl’ touch
that marks out the finest Chopin exponents...his timing remains immaculate whatever the technical
pressure.” International Piano praised “some magically veiled sonorities and exquisite
pianissimo…reminiscent of 1970s Pollini” and noted he “knows exactly how far to allow phrases room to
dream and breathe before being gently reined back into focus.” Gramophone praised his ability to
“transform passages often treated as superficial rhetoric into something thoughtful and communing” and
BBC Music Magazine described his playing as having “a lyrical elegance and unselfconscious purity of
expression.”
Ian Jones is much sought-after as a teacher and his students have enjoyed international success. He is
Artistic Director of the World Piano Teachers Association International Piano Competition and often serves
on the juries of other international piano competitions. He frequently examines and adjudicates at other
leading conservatoires, including the Royal Academy of Music in London and regularly performs and
conducts international masterclasses, most recently in China, Sweden, USA, Serbia, Japan, Ireland,
Greece, Italy and Russia and at conservatoires such as Sweden’s Royal College of Music and many
keyboard faculties in USA.
He was piano coach, music advisor and composer/performer on the Oscar-nominated film Hilary and Jackie
and has also written and performed music for France’s two national theatres in Paris and Strasbourg.
“A fine sense of line, volatility and rapt concentration informs Ian Jones’s performances”
- Classicalsource.com
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