Kathryn Stott (born 10 December 1958)[1] is a British classical pianist who performs as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Her specialities include the English and French classical repertoire, contemporary classical music and the tango. She teaches at the Royal Academy of Music and Chetham's School of Music, and has organised several music festivals and concert series.
Grove Music Online describes Stott's playing as "marked by a vivid sense of immediacy and personal communication."[1] A recent review of her fiftieth birthday gala concert in The Times describes her as "one of the most versatile pianists on the circuit".[2]
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Stott was born in Nelson, Lancashire.[1] Her mother was a piano teacher and she began to learn the piano at the age of five.[3] She attended the Yehudi Menuhin School, where her teachers included Nadia Boulanger, Marcel Ciampi, Barbara Kerslake and Ravel specialist, Vlado Perlemuter, and then studied at the Royal College of Music with Kendall Taylor.[1][3][4]
Stott's career as a soloist was launched after she gained fifth place in the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1978.[5] Her London début was at the Purcell Room the same year.[1] She has since toured throughout Europe, Asia, America and Australia with a concert repertoire that encompasses concertos, solo piano music and chamber music.[1][4] She is unusual in always performing from a score.[3]
Stott has a particular affinity with English music, and her series of recordings of works by Frank Bridge, George Lloyd, John Ireland and William Walton is described as "distinguished" in Grove.[1] She is also known for her love of French music, particularly the works of Gabriel Fauré, whose complete piano works she has recorded to critical acclaim.[1] Contemporary classical music is another of Stott's specialities. She has given the first performances of many works, including a concerto by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Nyman's The Piano Concerto and Graham Fitkin's Circuit (with Noriko Ogawa).[4][6] Since the mid-1990s, she has also been interested in tango and other Latin dance music, which she describes as "primitive music, hard to place, both abrasive and tender".[7]
Stott first met long-term collaborator, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, in 1978 when she "discovered a Chinese man in his underpants playing the cello" in her flat after returning from holiday (Ma had rented the flat without realising that it was shared).[7] They have worked together since 1985; the pair frequently tour together and have made several joint recordings, including Soul of the Tango and Obrigado Brazil, which received Grammy Awards in 1999 and 2004.[7] She also has long-standing collaborations with cellists Truls Mørk, Christian Poltéra and Natalie Clein, violinist Janine Jansen, and pianist Noriko Ogawa.[4][8]
Stott has directed several successful music festivals and concert series in the north of England. In 1995, she organised a Fauré festival in Manchester to mark the composer's 150th anniversary.[1][3] According to the Independent, the event was "transformed by her enthusiasm and her own sumptuous performances of this neglected composer's works."[3] The success of the festival led to her appointment as Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French government.[9]
She directed two major piano festivals at the Manchester Bridgewater Hall in 2000 and 2003.[9] As Stott considers "It's very important at an event like this that we should let people play," both festivals featured multiple Steinway grands that the public were allowed to try, as well as a variety of novelty pianos including a red "Ferrari" Steinway, an "exploded" piano revealing the internal workings, a grove of woven pianos, and a concert grand fitted with a pool which played a variety of watery sounds.[3][10]
In 1998, Stott directed a concert series "Out of the Shadows" with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, featuring two neglected female composers, Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn.[9] More recently, she has directed the series "Chopin: The Music and the Legacy" at Leeds College of Music (2004–5) and "Paris" at the Sheffield Crucible (2006).[9] In 2008, she was appointed the musical director of the Manchester Chamber Concerts Society.[9] She is also on the board of the Hallé Orchestra.[11]
As of 2008, Stott teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London[12] and at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester.[13] She formerly taught at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.[14]
Stott lives in Manchester. She has a daughter, Lucy, from a previous marriage.[8]
| Year | Title | Composer(s) | Other performers | Record company | Reference[15] |
| Solo piano | |||||
| Favourite Nocturnes | Chopin | Regis | Regis RRC 1159[16] | ||
| 1987 | A Debussy Collection | Debussy | Conifer Classics | CFC/CDCF 148 | |
| 1993 | A Liszt Collection | Liszt | Conifer Classics | CDCF 180 | |
| 1994 | The Complete Music for Piano | Fauré | Hyperion | Hyperion CDA 66911/4[17] | |
| 1994 | Complete Nocturnes | Chopin | Regis | Regis RCC 2034[18] | |
| 1999 | Essays in the Modes, Music-Pictures Groups VI,VII, Variazioni ed Improvvisati su un Tema Originale, English Tune with Burden, Egoistic (Mode V L), April – England | Foulds | BIS | BIS-CD-933[19] | |
| 2001 | Piano Moods | Debussy, Liszt, Chopin, Ravel, Rachmaninov, and others | Various | Conifer Classics | BMG7560551286-2 |
| 2002 | Piano Works including the Pièces pittoresques | Chabrier | Elizabeth Burley (piano) | Regis | Regis RRC 1133[20] |
| 2003 | Suite dansante en jazz, Piano Sonata No. 1, Cinq études de jazz, Second Suite for piano, 11 Inventions, Hot Music | Schulhoff | BIS | BIS-CD-1249[21] | |
| 2003 | Les Heures Persanes | Koechlin | Chandos | CHAN 9974[22] | |
| 2007 | Dreams, The Curious One, Concert Étude in C major, On the Sea Shore – a memory, Fantasia on Czech Folksongs, Czech Dances, Books 1,2 | Smetana | Chandos | CHAN 10430[23] | |
| 2008 | Dance | Chopin, Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla, Satie, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Ginastera, Bartók, Dvořák, Sibelius, Guarnieri, Lecuona | Chandos | CHAN 10493[24] | |
| Piano duos | |||||
| 2003 | On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, Summer Night on the River, In Summer Garden, A Song before Sunrise, North Country Sketches, Dance Rhapsody Nos 1,2 | Delius arr. Warlock | Noriko Ogawa (piano) | BIS | BIS-CD-1347[25] |
| 2003 | Sir Lennox Berkeley: A Centenary Tribute: Sonatina for Piano Duet, Palm Court Waltz, and others | Berkeley | Nash Ensemble | Helios | Helios CDH55135[26] |
| Piano concertos | |||||
| 1989 | Piano Concerto No. 4 | Lloyd | London Symphony Orchestra, George Lloyd (conductor) | Albany | AR004[27] |
| 1990 | Piano Concerto No. 3 | Lloyd | BBC Philharmonic, George Lloyd (conductor) | Albany | TROY019[28] |
| 1991 | The Rio Grande, Concerto for Piano and Nine Players, Horoscope | Lambert | Delia Jones, BBC Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth (conductor) | Decca | Decca 473 424-2 |
| 1994 | The Piano Concerto | Nyman | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Michael Nyman (conductor) | Argo | Decca 443 382-2 |
| 1995 | Orchestral Works: Ballade in F sharp, piano and orchestra, and others | Fauré | BBC Philharmonic, Yan Pascal Tortelier | Chandos | CHAN9416W[29] |
| 2002 | Collected Works: Sinfonia Concertante | Walton | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley (conductor) | RCA Red Seal | BMG RCA 74321 92575 2 |
| 2003 | Concertos for Piano and Orchestra Nos 2, 3, The Comedians | Kabalevsky | BBC Philharmonic, Vassily Sinaisky (conductor) | Chandos | CHAN 10052[30] |
| 2005 | Concertos & Dances: Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor | Howells | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Vernon Handley (conductor) | Helios | CDH55205[31] |
| 2006 | Concertos for Piano and Orchestra Nos. 1, 4, Symphony No. 2 | Kabalevsky | BBC Philharmonic, Neeme Järvi (conductor) | Chandos | CHAN 10384[32] |
| Chamber works | |||||
| 1997 | Soul of the Tango | Piazzolla | Yo-Yo Ma (cello) and others | Sony BMG | Sony SK SK63122[33] |
| 1997 | Sonata No.1 in E minor for Violin and Piano, Sonata No.2 in E minor for Violin and Piano, Bagatellen | Busoni | Per Enoksson (violin) | BIS | BIS-CD-784[34] |
| 2000 | Sonatas for Violin and Piano Nos 1,2, Zwei lyrische Stücke, Poème pour violon et piano | Sjögren | Per Enoksson (violin) | BIS | BIS-CD-995[35] |
| 2002 | Le Saxophone Lumineux: 15 Etudes for Saxophone and Piano, 7 Pieces for Saxophone and Piano | Koechlin | Federico Mondelci (saxophone) | Chandos | CHAN 9803[36] |
| 2003 | Paris – La Belle Époque | Fauré, Franck, Massenet, Saint-Saens | Yo-Yo Ma (cello) | Sony BMG | Sony SK 87287[37] |
| 2004 | Obrigado Brazil | Guarnieri, Gismonti, Villa-Lobos and others | Yo-Yo Ma (cello) and others | Sony BMG | Sony SK 89935[38] |
| 2007 | String Quintet in G major, Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major | Dvořák | Škampa Quartet | Supraphon | SU 3909-2 131[39] |
| 2007 | Sonata for Cello and Piano, Sonatina for Cello and Piano, and others | Honegger | Christian Poltéra (cello) | BIS | BIS-CD-1617[40] |
| 2007 | Nocturne | Chopin | Truls Mørk (cello) | Virgin | NRK P2 |
| 2008 | Ballade for Cello and Piano, Preludes for Piano | Martin | Christian Poltéra (cello) | BIS | BIS-CD-1637[41] |
| 2008 | Sonatas for Cello and Piano Nos 1,2, Nocturne No. 13, Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello | Fauré | Christian Poltéra (cello), Priya Mitchell (violin) | Chandos | CHAN 10447[42] |