Presentations

See below for some examples of concerts and lecture-recitals which have evolved from my on-going research into Clara Schumann.

"à la Clara": Thinking Through Her Hands

Improvisation was used as a communicative tool between performer and audience in myriad ways, both by Clara Schumann and her contemporaries. For Clara, it provided at times a pathway between the private and the public spheres, and an outlet through which emotions and ideas could be expressed. What “Clara the improvisor” can represent, and how to re-invent the improvisatory experience in a twenty-first century context lies at the heart of this concert. 

An Afternoon with Clara Schumann (chamber programme) 

This concert draws its inspiration from the convivial afternoons spent at Clara's Frankfurt home, where, from the late 1870s onwards, and surrounded by friends Joseph Joachim, Richard Mühlfeld andJohannes Brahms, Clara would host musical gatherings showcasing the works of Robert Schumann and the "New Romantic School". 

Adding Another Piece to the Pedal Puzzle: Clara Schumann’s Pedal Markings In The 1887 Authoritative Instructive Edition of Robert Schumann’s Keyboard Works

With a performing career that developed alongside, and was innately bound, to the rapid innovations and modifications applied to piano construction throughout the nineteenth-century, Clara Schumann was uniquely placed to contend with the shift in sound aesthetic that swept over the piano building industry in Europe. In light of the considerable impact Clara’s presence had on the international music scene throughout the century, it is unfortunate that the particular attributes of her playing style, and within those, her treatment of the damper pedal, are not as well-known as those of her more celebrated colleagues: Chopin, Thalberg and Liszt. This concert explores these aspects of nineteenth-century pianism while focusing on Clara's own annotations to the works of Robert Schumann, of which she was the foremost interpreter.