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Grace Francis - Piano

Biography

GRACE FRANCIS

 

Piano

 

Grace Francis was born in East London and attended the Yehudi Menuhin School before studying with Irina Zaritskaya at the Royal College of Music, where she was awarded the Chappell Gold Medal, the highest award for a pianist. She subsequently received a Wingate Scholarship to continue her studies with Martino Tirimo for several years. Among other prizes, she was a winner of the Negrada Piano House Heferer Award at the EPTA International Competition in Zagreb.

Grace has given many concerts in Britain: at the Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall for the Kirckman Concert Society; at the Barbican; in St Peter’s, Belsize Square; St Martin-in-the-Fields; at St James’, Piccadilly; and for the Bedwyn Music Society. She has also made broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 of works including Bartok’s Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.12.

Her repertoire is wide-ranging and varied (taking in Haydn, Carl Vine and Colin McPhee), but she is happiest with the Romantic composers of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Forthcoming performances include recitals at St Olave’s Church, London, The Reform Club, and the Wigmore Hall.

‘Grace Francis is a phenomenon. Technically, there seems to be nothing she can’t play. But more than that, there is a force in her, a compulsion, that gives her performances uncommon fire and energy.’

David Cairns Senior Music Critic, The Sunday Times

 

“It was a performance that demonstrated first rate technical control and considerable subtlety. Her playing throughout was underlined by a total self-assurance and there was not a flicker of hesitation when it came to acute technical difficulty.”

Hampstead & Highgate Express

 

‘It took only a few bars of Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Paganini to convince me that I was witnessing the dawn of what must surely prove an outstanding career. As this great work unfolded to a riveted audience, it was the marriage of superb technique and soaring musical imagination that lifted the spirit… I shall be haunted by this recital’s rich beauty for a very long time.’

Geoffrey Crankshaw Musical Opinion

 

 

November 2008

Repertoire

Grace Francis
Piano

Recital Repertoire November 2008

Albéniz
Triana (Iberia Book 2)

J S Bach
Italian Concerto
French Suite No.6 in E
Partita No.4 in D
Partita No.5 in G
Toccata No.5 in D
Well tempered Clavier:
Book 1:
C
C minor
C sharp
D
G
A flat
Book 2:
C minor
D minor
G
G minor

Balakirev
Islamey (Oriental Fantasy)

Bartok
Suite Op.14
Allegro barbaro
Sonata
Two Roumanian Dances, Op.8a
Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs, Op.20

Beethoven
Sonatas:
A Op.2 No.2
C Op.2 No.3
E flat Op.7
C minor Op.10 No.1
C minor Op.13 (Pathétique)
E Op.14 No.1
C sharp minor Op.27 No.2
Flat Op.31 No.3
C Op.53 (Waldstein)
F minor Op.57 (Appassionata)
E flat Op.81a (Les Adieux)
A Op.101
E Op. 109
C minor Op.111
Six Bagatelles Op.126

Brahms
Variations on a theme of Paganini, Op.35, Book 2
Sonata No.3 in F minor Op.5
Capriccio in B minor Op.76
2 Rhapsodies Op.79
Intermezzo in B flat minor Op.76
Intermezzo in E flat Op.118
Sonata No.2 in F# minor Op.2
Sonata No.1 in C Op.1

Britten
Notturno (Night Piece)

Chopin
4 Ballades
Sonata in B flat minor Op.35
Sonata in B minor Op.58
Polonaise in A flat Op.53
Polonaise in F# minor
Mazurka in A flat Op.59 No.2
Etudes Op.10
Etudes Op.25
Trois Nouvelles Etudes
Nocturne in C sharp minor Op.posth.
Nocturne in C minor Op.48 No.1
Nocturne in F# minor Op.48 No.2
Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante in E flat Op.22
Scherzo No.1 in B minor
Scherzo No.2 in B flat minor Op.31
Scherzo No.3 in C# minor


Debussy
Deux Arabesques
L’isle joyeuse
Preludes Book 1:
Les collines d’Anacapri
Des pas sur la neige
Ce qu’a vu vent d’Ouest
La fille aux cheveux de lin
La sérénade interrompue

John Field
Nocturne in B flat H.37

Franck
Prelude, Chorale and Fugue

Haydn
Sonata in C Hob:XVI:50
Sonata in E flat Hob.XVI:52

Liszt
Ballade No.2
Funérailles and Ave Maria from Harmonies postiques et religuieuses
Sonata in B minor
Hungarian Rhapsody No.12
Hungarian Rhapsody No.16
Transcendental Study No.10 in F minor
Transcendental Study No.4 Mazeppa
Transcendental Study La campanella (after Paganini)
Vallée d’Obermann (Années de Pelerinage, Suisse)
Après une lecture de Dante (Années de Pelerinage, Italie)
Sponaligio (Années de Pelerinage, Italie)
Sonetto 104 del Petrarca (Années de Pelerinage, Italie)
Sonetto 123 del Petrarca (Années de Pelerinage, Italie)
Venezia e Napoli
Liebestraum No.3 in A flat

John McCabe
Capriccio (Study No.1)

Mendelssohn
Rondo Capriccioso in E Op.14


Mozart
Sonata in C K.330
Sonata in B flat K.333
Sonata in D K.576
Fantasie in C minor K.475
Rondo in A minor K.511

Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition

Vitezslav Novák
Songs of a Winter’s Night Op.30

Prokofiev
Toccata Op.11
Prelude (Zehn kleine Klavierstücke Op.12)
Sonata No.6 Op.82
Sonata No.7 Op.83
11 Visions Fugitives from Op.22
Sarcasms

Rachmaninov
Sonata No.2 in B flat minor (revised version) Op.36
Prelude in D Op.23 No.4
Prelude in D minor Op.23 No.5
Prelude in C minor Op.23 No.7
Variations on a theme of Corelli Op.42
Etude-Tableau in C minor Op.39 No.1
Etude-Tableau in E flat minor Op.39 No.5
Etude-Tableau in A minor Op.39 No.6
Etude-Tableau in D minor Op.39 No.9
Moments Musicaux No3 & No.4 Op.16

Ravel
Valses nobles et sentimentales
Sonatina
Alborada del gracioso (Miroirs)
Oiseaux tristes (Miroirs)

Scarlatti
2 Sonatas, C and C minor
2 Sonatas, D and D minor

Schoenberg
Drie Klavierstücke Op.11
Schubert
Sonata in A D.959
Wander-Fantasie D.760
Impromptu in C minor Op.90 D.899
6 Moments Musicaux Op.94 D.780

Schumann
Sonata in G minor Op.22
Carnaval Op.9
Etudes Symphoniques Op.13
Fantasy in C Op.17
Fashingsschwank aus Wien Op.26
Des Albens (Phantasiestücke Op.12)
Romance No.2

Scriabin
Etude in D sharp minor Op.8 No.12
Etude in C sharp minor Op.42 No.5
Etude Op.65 No.3

Shostakovich
Prelude and Fugue in D minor Op.87 No.24

Takemitsu
Rain Tree Sketch

Tchaikovsky
3 pieces from The Seasons
Dumka

Tippett
Sonata No.2

Carl Vine
Five Bagatelles




Grace Francis
Piano

Concerto Repertoire November 2008

Beethoven
Concerto No.1 in C Op.15
Concerto No.5 in E flat (Emperor)

Brahms
Concerto No.1 in D minor
Concerto No.2 in B flat Op.83

Chopin
Concerto No.1 in Eminor Op.11

Grieg
Concerto in A minor

Liszt
Concerto No.2 in A
Hungarian Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra S.123

Mendelssohn
Concerto No.1 in G minor Op.25

Mozart
Concerto in B flat K.450
Concerto in D minor K.466

Prokofiev
Concerto No.3 in C Op.26

Rachmaninov
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Concerto No.3 in D minor Op.30
Concerto No.1 in F# minor
Concerto No.2 in C minor

Saints-Saëns
Concerto No.2 in G minor
Carnival of the Animals

Schumann
Concerto I A minor

Tchaikovsky
Concerto No.1 in B flat minor Op.23

Soundclips

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