Pianoforte Section Adjudicator - Paul Roberts FGSM ARAM

Both as a pianist and writer, and as a lecturer and enlightening teacher, Paul Roberts has a versatility and energy that takes him around the world.  He is a regular guest of the Juilliard School in New York and the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. He plays and  teaches at the University of Washington, San Francisco Conservatoire and Portland State University.  He is one of the few British pianists to perform in the prestigious Portland Piano International series, and he returns each summer to perform. In 2007 he gave a series of lectures, recitals and masterclasses, Focus on Impressionism at Portland.  He has given recitals and masterclasses at the conservatories of Sydney and Brisbane in Australia, at the Stockholm Academy, and in Madrid.

In London he is an honorary Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He was recently appointed Visiting Professor of Piano at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. In France he has been a jury member of the International Debussy Competition.

As a writer he has a commission from Phaidon Press for a biography of Debussy, to be published in 2007.  He is also author of a celebrated book on Debussy, Images: The Piano Music of Claude Debussy (Amadeus Press), a combined study of music, poetry and painting. Current projects include a further book for Amadeus Press Reflections: The Piano Music of Maurice Ravel, to be accompanied by a CD; and a series of DVDs, being recorded in Steinway Hall, New York, in which he discusses and performs works by Debussy and Ravel. The first of these, Mists, Fairies and Fireworks: Debussy Preludes Book I (Hal Leonard 331696) was released in the summer of 2006.

Although Paul now lives in East Sussex, he was born and educated in High Wycombe.  As a child he regularly took part in piano festivals similar to Woodley. It is his memory of these, along with his love of teaching, that makes adjudicating one of the highlights of his busy schedule.

In the summer he directs a summer school for pianists in Southwest France, Music at Castelfranc. It is open to students of 15 years and above, and amateurs of all ages. Details can be found on the web at www.castelfranc.com.

More on Paul Roberts, with details of his books, CD’s & DVD’s, can be found at www.paulrobertspiano.com.