Professor John Irving SFHEA
Recently described as ‘One of the foremost exponents of the period piano in the UK’, John Irving is an established performer on early keyboards (notably fortepiano, harpsichord and clavichord), specializing in music of the later 18th century.
International Piano has described his Beethoven playing as ‘Excellent…played with historical awareness and humour’. John’s performances on fortepiano challenge traditional expectations of the piano repertoire of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, going beyond the notated texts into an improvisatory mode of creative engagement with the score that recaptures performance expectations in the 18th century. By turns virtuosic and extemporary, his performances are noted for their accessible engagement with audiences, offering fresh insights into this repertoire.
John plays a 1988 Paul McNulty fortepiano: a copy of a 1795 Viennese original by Anton Walter. He has also performed and recorded on historical originals, including Rossini’s piano in Pesaro. His most recent solo CDs are Josef Haydn Piano Sonatas (Devine Music, 2015) and John Irving Plays Mozart on the Hass Clavichord (sfzmusic, 2013). His chamber music disc, Beethoven and the art of Arrangement with Ensemble DeNOTE (Omnibus Classics, 2015) won a 5* review in Early Music Review. Recent and forthcoming appearances include King’s Place; Milton Court, Barbican Centre; Greenwich International Early Music Festival; LSO St. Lukes; Brighton Early Music Festival; North York Moors Chamber Music Festival; St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh; the Holywell Music Room, Oxford; Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin; Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano; ORPHEUS Instituut, Gent; Fondazione Cini, Venice; the Geelvinck Festival, Amsterdam and the Valletta International Baroque Festival.
John is also Professor of Performance Practice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London. Previously he was Professor of Music at Bristol University and subsequently Director of The Institute of Musical Research at London University and Vice President of the Royal Musical Association. An internationally recognized Mozart scholar, he has published six books on Mozart, including an international best-selling biography, The Treasures of Mozart (André Deutsch, 2010) and contributions to the internationally-acclaimed The Mozart Project (a digital book for iPad). In 2016 he was appointed Honorary President of University College London’s Chamber Concerts Society.