Glynis Henderson Productions
James Rhodes
Bookings : available for concert touring / festivalsJAMES RHODES BIOGRAPHY
“Classical music is stereotyped as an art of the dead, a repertory that begins with Bach and terminates with Mahler and Puccini.” Alex Ross in The Rest is Just Noise.
Those not attuned to the "demi-monde" that the classical music world inhabits could perhaps shorten the above quote and end it at the word "dead". Finding the poetry between the music as text and the music as performance, evidently takes sheer talent. We are used to this gift being inherited either through generations of musical DNA and/or formidably strict patterns of prepubescent indoctrination.
Rhodes' story is also an unusual one. He has no formal academic musical education or dedicated mentoring. The title of the debut album "Razor Blades Little Pills and Big Pianos", hints at the suffering that dogged Rhodes's childhood and early adult life. Classical music became his solace and key to his survival. It was Bach, Beethoven and Chopin, not Faith Hope and Charity, that offered comfort. His latest album "Now would all Freudians please stand aside" alludes to the triumph of music over psychology, medication and over-thinking.
Since coming back to the piano at the age of 28, after a decade of abstinence, James has studied with both Bryce Morrison in London and Edoardo Strabbioli in Verona, and with their patient support has managed to carve out for himself a career as one of today's most exciting young British pianists. Dispensing with the white-tie and tails snobbery of the traditional concert hall, James delights in interacting with his audience and challenging the misguided notion that core classical music is only for those wealthy enough and intelligent enough to 'get it'. As 'The Times' said of his Roundhouse concert last year: 'performances of such natural ease and brilliance that no one can resist...by a pianist who's very much going his own way, and deserves to take the crowds with him.'
Highlights for this year include his debut at the Cheltenham Festival (July 13th), Latitude Festival (July 16th) and his appearance in a BBC television documentary on Chopin.