BIOGRAPHY

well deserves her enviable reputation as a Bach pianist - BBC Music Magazine

a natural Mozartean - Penguin Guide to CDs 2008

British pianist Jill Crossland pursues a flourishing concert and recording career. She performs throughout the UK, including regular appearances at London's South Bank and Wigmore Hall. She has recently performed at the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, and her 2008 engagements include St George's Bristol, Fairfield and Blackheath Halls, The Sage, Gateshead and the Leipzig Gewandhaus.

Jill's recordings are available from Warner Classics, Divine Art and Signum Classics, including a complete recording of Bach's Well-tempered Clavier and his Goldberg variations. Jill is a member of the Musicians in Residence scheme, supported by funding from Arts Council England.

Read on for fuller biography.

Currently,

In 2008, Jill will make debuts at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, in Basel and in Italy. 2008 engagements in England include Fairfield and Bridgewater Halls, St George's Bristol and the Sage, Gateshead. In 2007, she gave recitals at the Vienna Konzerthaus, and both solo and chamber concerts at Wigmore Hall. She has a schedule of fifty to sixty concerts a year.

In 2006, Jill made her Bridgewater Hall debut in January, shortly before giving the John Ogdon memorial recital (which will also celebrate Mozart's 250th birthday) in Ogdon's home town of Mansfield and ended the year with a debut recital at the Vienna Musikverein. She continues to appear regularly at the Wigmore Hall in London. Jill is securing a steadily increasing number of concert engagements, regularly updated on the calendar page.

Recordings

Jill's complete recording of the Bach Well-tempered Clavier is available on Signum Classics (Book 1 January 2008, Book 2 June). Her Goldberg Variations are issued on Warner Classics Apex, featured in the Classical Charts on release and in the Classic FM Hall of Fame 2005. Jill has made recordings of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, available through the Divine Art Record Company. Divine Art also issue two recital discs, featuring Handel, Scarlatti, Rameau and Mozart, one of them a debut fortepiano disc.

Sound samples and more information about all these recordings can be found on the recordings page.

 

See instant summary 'at a glance' HERE

Listen to selected tracks live from recitals HERE

See forthcoming engagements HERE

Jill features in the Classic FM Hall of Fame 2005.

Jill Crossland

Training etc

was born in Yorkshire, and began playing the piano at the age of four. She studied at Chethams School and the Royal Northern College of Music, with Charles Hopkins and Ryszard Bakst. While a student, Jill performed the complete cycle of Bach's '48 Preludes and Fugues' from memory, won the Pinsen Book Prize for her Bach playing, and was a semi-finalist at the VIIth International Bach Competition, in Leipzig. After winning the Edward Boyle Scholarship, Jill studied in Vienna with Paul Badura-Skoda and performed throughout Austria as soloist and chamber player.

 

Earlier career:

Jill has now performed extensively throughout the UK. She has given concerto performances with the City of Bradford CO and the Manchester Camerata, with whom she appeared at the Last Night of the Proms in Leeds Town Hall. Jill is a Steinway Artist and has given a recital in Steinway Hall to promote the 32 Short Films on Glenn Gould. Jill has performed abroad in Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and in Amsterdam and Den Haag as part of the Anglo-Dutch Piano Platform.

 

Jill gave a particularly well-received performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations in the South Bank's 'Fresh' series, and has made a number of other appearances at the Purcell Room.

In 2004, Jill made a very successful Wigmore Hall solo debut in January and returned for a second recital in the same year in December. She has since performed regularly there. She has also returned to the RNCM for the first time since graduating, to play the Goldbergs.

 

Chamber, film and other work

Jill has been much in demand as a chamber player, and has given numerous duo recitals as well as piano duet concerts with her brother Neil. She has undertaken frequent freelance engagements with the LSO, working with, among others, Vadim Repin, Kent Nagano, Yuri Bashmet, Michael Tilson-Thomas, John Adams and Sir Colin Davis.

Jill has made regular radio and television broadcasts, including live performances on Radio 3 and 4 and a recent appearance on Ireland's Late Late Show with the violinist Chloe Hanslip. Jill has recorded a number of film soundtracks, including the drama Pollyanna, broadcast by ITV on New Year's Day 2003.

See instant summary at a glance

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