Sam Haywood (piano)
Sunday 19 January 2025, 11am
Music Suite, Somerhill, Tonbridge
‘Musical Liaisons – Chopin and Women Composers’
A fascinating programme of pairings of famous works by Chopin, with beautiful unknown works.
Viteslava Kaprálová: Dubnová preludia Op. 13 (April Preludes) Nos 1,3,4
Chopin: Prelude Op. 28 No. 24 in D minor
Teresa Carreño: Venise Op. 33
Chopin: Ballade No 4 in F minor Op 52
Mel Bonis: Etude concertante Op. 136
Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor Op 31
Germaine Tailleferre: Impromptu in E major
Chopin: Fantasy Impromptu Op. 66
Jelena Poulíčková: Lullaby
Chopin: Polonaise in A flat Op. 53 (Heroic)
“Dazzling, evocative playing” (Washington Post)
“Passionate flair, a warm touch and sparkling clarity” (The New York Times)
Standard ticket £15 | Students & Under 18s £5
Ticket price includes coffee and biscuits after the concert and an opportunity to meet Sam
About Sam Haywood
Sam Haywood has performed to critical acclaim in many of the world’s major concert halls. The Washington Post hailed his ‘dazzling, evocative playing’ and ‘lyrical sensitivity’ and the New York Times his ‘passionate flair and sparkling clarity’. He embraces a wide spectrum of the piano repertoire and is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician or with accompanying Lieder. He has had a regular duo partnership with Joshua Bell since 2010 and often performs with cellist Steven Isserlis.
He has recorded two solo albums for Hyperion, one featuring the piano music of Julius Isserlis (grandfather of Steven Isserlis) and the other Charles Villiers Stanford’s preludes. His passion for period instruments led to a recording on Chopin’s own Pleyel piano, part of the Cobbe Collection.
In 2013 Haywood co-founded Solent Music Festival in the UK. The annual Lymington-based festival features highly varied programmes and projects in the local community. Guest artists have included the King’s Singers, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Steven Isserlis, Anthony Marwood, Michael Portillo, Mark Padmore and the Elias Quartet.
He was mentored by David Hartigan, Paul Badura-Skoda and Maria Curcio. Following his early success in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded him the Julius Isserlis Scholarship. He studied both at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, of which he is an Associate (ARAM).
As a composer Haywood has written several miniatures for piano. ‘The Other Side’ was recently premiered in the Konzerthaus in Vienna and the ‘Song of the Penguins’, dedicated to Roger Birnstingl, is published by Emerson Editions. His invention ‘memorystars®’ can significantly reduce the time needed to memorise a music score.
His other passions include literature, physics, natural history, technology, magic, fountain pens and table tennis. Originally from the English Lake District, he now lives in Kent with his wife Sophia, their baby sons James and Archie, and cockapoo puppy Poppy.
‘A breathtaking recital’ (Die Welt)
‘Just the right amount of swagger and flair’ (The Guardian)
