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The Scottish pianist, Katharine Durran, gave her first concerto performance in Edinburgh at the age of 11. After reading Music at Cambridge University she studied piano at the Royal College of Music in London under Kendall Taylor and Geoffrey Parsons. More recently she has continued to study with Joyce Rathbone.
Since the release of her debut solo album - the complete Toccatas of J.S. Bach - Katharine Durran has been ranked among the world's finest Bach players. Renowned as a pianist of the most intellectually and technically complex new music since her performance of Luciano Berio's Sequenza IV at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 1992, she has commissioned many new works, both for solo piano and for ensembles. She has also performed numerous premières on BBC Radio 3 and on television. She has also appeared on Radio 3 discussing the role of song accompanist in today's musical society.
Alongside this Katharine Durran has developed her career as song recital accompanist, establishing regular programmes of song in Aberdeen and Glasgow with international singers as well as performing regularly at the major London venues. Her recordings with singers have been highly acclaimed. Combining her passions for Song and New Music, she is currently working with more than 20 of Britain's most important composers on two major projects; New Rückert Lieder and New French Song. These new settings of German and French poetry will form the backbone of recital programmes, two CD recordings and educational workshops over the next few years.
She holds strong views on the healthy development of gifted young musicians and is increasingly in demand as consultant and teacher. Committed to community music-making, she has given hundreds of concerts and workshops in schools, hospitals and prisons, under the auspices of Live Music Now!, and Music in Hospitals.
Katharine Durran lives in the Southern Uplands of Scotland with her three young children. Future plans include performances and a recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations. |
