Warren Mailley-Smith at St John's

Enjoy your Friday evening with a virtuoso pianist playing some of the great classical masterpieces. You can wine and dine beforehand in the crypt restaurant and bar.

In 2016, concert pianist Warren Mailley-Smith became the first British pianist to perform all 234 of Chopin’s solo works for piano from memory in an 11-recital series at St John’s Smith Square. Having since commenced a recording project of the complete Chopin cycle and launched The Piccadilly Chamber Music Series (an annual celebration of Chamber Music in the West End), he returns to St John's on 28th September 2018 with a varied programme that contrasts two great sonatas by Beethoven and Schubert in the key of B flat. The former, a youthful work full of vibrancy and virtuosity. The latter, the composer’s last piano sonata, written on his deathbed, widely considered to be one of Schubert’s most profoundly beautiful compositions. Bravura works by Liszt, Ravel and Chopin provide glittering contrast. The two works by Chopin celebrate Mailley-Smith's first two CD releases (The Nocturnes and The Waltzes) in his Chopin cycle which are due for completion in 2020.

Tickets include admittance to a pre-concert talk given by Warren Mailley-Smith about his experience of the Chopin cycle at St John's in 2016 and on the specific subject of pianists learning and performing from memory, with the opportunity for the audience to ask questions.

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PROGRAMME
Beethoven - Sonata in B flat major Op 22
Chopin - Nocturne in D flat major?Chopin - Waltz in A flat major Op 42
Ravel - Sonatine
Schubert - Sonata in B flat major D 960
Liszt - Rigoletto Paraphrase