York Guildhall Orchestra are delighted to be working in partnership with the York Music Hub in giving opportunities for young players, located in and around York, to work with top professional soloists.
These workshops are not only an excellent opportunity for young people to learn directly from a professional performer to aid their progression but also provide invaluable experience of performing in front of others.
Young performers are invited to apply to participate - see below for more information.
A workshop for pupils learning piano (c. grade 5+) run by the York Music Hub. Join them and Adam Swayne from the RNCM for an afternoon of music making.
More details about the venue and application form will be released by the York Music Hub in due course.
Date:
21st February 2027
Time:
14:00 to 17:00
Location:
To be confirmed.
Pianist, composer and musicologist Dr Adam Swayne has been working at the forefront of performance and research for several years.Having gained his doctorate as a Fulbright Scholar in the USA, his solo recordings focus on societal issues in North American culture.
In April 2019 BBC Music Magazine named his solo recital CD ‘(speak to me): new music new politics’ as Instrumental Monthly Choice. BBC Radio 3’s Record Review said that it is “brave … flamboyant … a cleverly designed, exuberantly performed and arresting exercise in putting the politics back into the piano recital”. It was the only CD to be nominated in two categories at the 2019 Opus Klassik awards in Germany. His second CD was a commemorative recital for the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and was launched with a concert at the Wigmore Hall on September 11th 2021. He has since commissioned several works exploring music and commemoration, and a book chapter for Routledge is currently in progress.Adam’s musicological interests focus on the performance and culture surrounding the nineteenth century concerto and include (re)discovery of works by German composer Ferdinand Ries.
His doctoral thesis was an edition and commentary of Ries’s Piano Concerto No.3 Op.55, and in 2026 A-R Editions published a newly discovered first version of Ries’s Piano Concerto No.6 Op.123.As the pianist for the Riot Ensemble, Adam performs several premieres every year in international festivals. He has worked with all the major composers of our times. The Times described him as “a pianist of formidable technique and high intelligence” and the Evening Standard as “the ideal blend of panache and subtlety”.Adam studied on the dual award between the University of Manchester and the RNCM before completing his doctorate at Northwestern University in the USA.
His principal teachers were John Gough, John Casken, Kevin Malone and Ursula Oppens. He was a Park Lane Young Artist in 2008.Additionally, Adam is a composer and conductor, having served as Music Director for Contemporary Music for All (CoMA) in Sussex (2008-2017) and nationally between 2012 and 2014.
His compositions are published by CoMA and Forsyths Music.Adam began working at the RNCM in September 2017 having previously taught at Junior RAM and at the University of Chichester where he was Head of Chamber Music. Initially lecturing in Academic Studies, he joined the School of Keyboard in 2020 as Deputy Head.
