Graham Fitch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the United States Representative and Senator, see Graham N. Fitch.
Graham Fitch - professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa - is an English pianist. As a performer, teacher, lecturer and commentator on piano playing, Fitch's workshops and classes have received high praise from critics the world over.
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[edit] Biography
First Prizewinner in the Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition, Fitch graduated with honours from London's Royal College of Music as Hopkinson Gold Medallist. A Fulbright Scholarship then brought him to the United States, where he completed his studies with the renowned pedagogue, Nina Svetlanova, and attended regular classes with Leon Fleisher. During much of the 1990s, Fitch's career comprised solo and chamber performances in England, where he taught piano at the Purcell School, and North America. The New York Times described his playing as "unalloyed pleasure". In the United Kingdom he was a solo recitalist at the Bournemouth Festival, and appeared in repeated engagements with the London Chamber Soloists on London's South Bank. In America he played in concerts with the Trio dell'Arte, made various solo appearances and notably performing Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with timpanist Saul Goodman. More recently an international tour of Bach's Goldberg Variations elicited rapturous reviews on four continents, and invitations to return to Australia, New Zealand and the United States ensued.
[edit] Today
Graham Fitch is currently Head of Keyboard at the University of Cape Town, and continues to travel extensively to perform and teach. Most recently he has given recitals, masterclasses and keynote addresses at the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference and London's Royal Academy of Music, as well as participating in the Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium.
[edit] Criminal allegation
On 3 June 2008 the hard-hitting actuality TV programme “Special Assignment” revealed that Fitch stands accused of paedophilia and physical abuse against homeless children from the streets of Cape Town. The programme claims that the University of Cape Town has been aware of the accusations for around two years. While no formal charges have yet been laid he seems to be under investigation by both the Child Protection Unit and the South African National Prosecution Authority (The Scorpions).
In a video-taped interview with Fitch they confronted him with the accusations and he walked out of the interview. At the time of airing Fitch’s lawyers were threatening legal action against the producers
