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Soloist Dawn Joins Dame Evelyn in Concert

30 October 2013

Filed Under:

Music
Percussion
Piano

Graduate pianist Dawn Hardwick was back in Cardiff recently, to play as soloist alongside Dame Evelyn Glennie (pictured above). The performance at St David’s Hall – the National Concert Hall of Wales – was one of two concerts that the pair performed with British Sinfonietta.

Dawn tells us a little bit about the experience of performing alongside the world-renowned percussionist.

SONY DSC“I was invited to perform John Psathas’ View From Olympus with Evelyn. After I received the music I fell in love with the piece immediately and spent the next 7-8 months analysing, listening to and learning it, as well as finding out as much as I could about the composer and exchanging a few ideas with him over email.

“The piece is quite fiendishly difficult, so I was invited beforehand to rehearse at the studio in her home. Evelyn is simply wonderful. She put me at ease immediately and our rehearsal was great. Apart from being in an amazing setting surrounded by her huge collection of percussion instruments, it was just fantastic to watch a true artist at work. We worked as any two musicians would in a rehearsal scenario, bouncing ideas off each other, trying things out, discussing interpretation and thinking about interaction between ourselves and the orchestra.

“I’ve played a number of concerti in my time as a pianist, but the team I was working this time – Evelyn, the amazing conductor Anthony Gabriele, and Dave (Danford – another graduate of RWCMD and Managing Director of the British Sinfonietta) organising us all just seemed like a winning combination. I always love performing in St David’s Hall – I feel like I’ve ‘come home’, and you just can’t beat being a soloist. I love the interaction between performers and orchestra, I love being ‘held together’ by the conductor and I love challenging my body and mind by trying to stay calm, control nerves and channel the excess energy into the job of performing.

“Being a soloist is a completely different kettle of fish to my other work as an orchestral pianist and chamber musician, and I have always relished the challenge of transforming myself to be able to work in all of these areas. An opportunity such as this always reminds me I have chosen the right path in my life. A musician’s life is in no way easy, but it is most definitely worth it.”