Graham Fitch, now based in London, maintains an international
career not only as a pianist, but also as a teacher, adjudicator,
examiner, lecturer, writer and commentator on piano playing and
musical subjects. His workshops and classes, which he gives all
over the world, have received high praise for their creative
and illuminating approach to the subject. First Prizewinner in
the Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition, he graduated with honours
from the Royal College of Music in London as Hopkinson Gold Medallist.
A Fulbright Scholarship then took him to the United States, where
he completed his studies with Ann Schein and Nina Svetlanova,
as well as participating in regular classes with Leon Fleisher.
During much of the 1990s, Graham Fitch's career straddled the
Atlantic with solo and chamber performances in England (where
he taught piano at the Purcell School, St. Paul's Girls' School,
the Centre for Young Musicians) and in Europe and North America.
The New York Times spoke of his playing as "unalloyed pleasure".
In the UK he was recitalist at the Bournemouth Festival, and
appeared in repeated engagements with the London Chamber Soloists
on London's South Bank. US activities included concerts with
his trio, the Trio dell'Arte, various solo appearances (including
a performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations in Merkin Hall during
the 250th anniversary of the composer's death) and a performance
of Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with Jonathan
Haas.
From 1997 to 2008, Graham Fitch was Associate Professor, Head
of Keyboard and Head of Section of Practical Studies at the South
African College of Music, University of Cape Town, from where
he travelled extensively to perform and teach. An international
tour of Bach's Goldberg Variations elicited rapturous reviews
on four continents, and invitations to return to Australia, New
Zealand and the USA. More recently he has given a recital, a
masterclass and a keynote address at the 7th Australasian Piano
Pedagogy Conference, been in residence at London's Royal Academy
of Music, coached chamber music at the Franschhoek Chamber Music
Workshop, and participated in the Stellenbosch International
Piano Symposium.
A published author, Graham has written several articles on aspects
of piano playing and musical style. He has also produced a generation
of teachers through his influence as a teacher, and through his
pedagogy programmes at UCT (convenor/lecturer of the Piano Teaching
Method and B. Mus (Pedagogy).
LINKS:
Among Graham's prizewinning students are
• Daniel Grimwood
• James
Baillieu
• Kathleen Tagg
• Gemma
Webster
• Berta
Brozgul
For
more details of his students' successes, see under the "students" tab
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