Well in the case of one of the Wootton Bassett Arts Festival’s Music adjudicators this year the answer seems to be playing in a piano quartet named Piano 40. To the uninitiated this means playing with 8 hands at 2 pianos! In fact Mr. Richard Deering will be doing just that the evening before joining us at the Festival to preside over the adjudications in the Music Section.

Piano 40 was formed in 1999 – although originally known as the London Piano Quartet until 2002 – with the main objective of extending interest in the neglected medium of 8 hands at 2 pianos. Apart from the works written by Smetana, Moscheles and Moszkowski, Piano 40 has managed to extend the repertoire by having no fewer than 23 composers write original works especially for this unusual grouping. The current members of Piano 40 are Jeremy Brown, Rachel Nadin, Nadia Lasserson and Richard Deering.

To date Piano 40 has given 8 sold-out concerts at London’s South Bank, as well as appearances at the Dulwich Festival, Oxford International Piano Festival, EPTA International Conference in Budapest and at the EPTA London Conference held at Trinity College of Music.

Piano 40’s next London concert is at St. John’s, Smith Square on Wednesday June 9th 2010. Groups and school parties can be offered special ticketing deals. Contact Richard Deering himself for more information.

Richard Deering
55 Dalmally Road
Croydon
CR0 6LW

Tel: 07944 694892
Richard Deering’s website: http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/deering.htm
Piano 40 website: http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/piano40.htm