Richard Uttley

MA (Cantab), MPerf, ArtDip, FHEA

Noted for the integrity and breadth of his musicianship as soloist, chamber musician and recording artist, British pianist Richard Uttley has been recognised for his ‘musical intelligence and pristine facility’ (International Record Review), ‘amazing decisiveness’, and ‘tumultuous performance’ (Daily Telegraph). His playing has been frequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and has featured on BBC Two, BBC Four, BBC World Service, Classic FM and Sky Arts. He won first prize in the British Contemporary Piano Competition, and the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International Auditions at Wigmore Hall.

Richard read Music at Clare College, Cambridge University, graduating with a Double First in 2008, before studying with Martin Roscoe at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. His London debut at the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room in 2010 was described by The Times as a ‘brilliant recital’.[Text Wrapping Break][Text Wrapping Break]Richard has released numerous solo recordings to critical acclaim and appeared at venues and festivals including: Auditorium du Louvre (Paris), Banff Centre (Alberta), Bath Festival, Bridgewater Hall, BOZAR (Brussels), Cadogan Hall, Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Fundacíon Juan March (Madrid), Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon), Het Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Klangspuren Festival (Innsbruck), Kings Place, Konzerthaus Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Modulus Festival (Vancouver), Musikverein (Vienna), National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai), Presteigne Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and Wigmore Hall, and has toured in Europe, Scandinavia, East Asia and South America.

Richard’s long-term collaborators include composer-clarinettist Mark Simpson, violinists Savitri Grier and Callum Smart, and horn player Ben Goldscheider. He also works with artists such as cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, violinist Mathilde Milwidsky, violist Rosalind Ventris, trumpeter Simon Höfele, trombonist Peter Moore, and oboist Olivier Stankiewicz, and has participated in both the Masterclasses and Open Chamber Music at the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove.

A passionate exponent of new music, Richard has given major solo recitals at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and commissioned new work. He has given world premieres of pieces by composers including Julian Anderson, Fransisco Coll, Michael Cutting, Rolf Hind, Matthew Kaner, Daniel Kidane, Oliver Leith, Naomi Pinnock, Mark Simpson, Dobrinka Tabakova, and Kate Whitley. Other composers Richard has worked with on their solo piano music include Thomas Adès, Louis Andriessen, Chaya Czernowin, Brian Ferneyhough, Erika Fox, Georg Friedrich Haas, Robin Holloway and Justina Repeckaite. Richard was a Trustee of New Dots – a charity promoting new music and supporting emerging composers – from 2013 to 2016. In 2018, Richard and composer Kate Whitley became the first UK prize winners of the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust Pianist/Composer Commission prize. Richard is also a composer, and has written for film as well as concert music.

Richard was a contributor to Edition Peters’ Piano Masterworks series on the Tido Music app, which includes films of him performing and giving tutorials on core piano repertoire. He also records for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) Piano Syllabus CDs.

Teaching primarily solo and collaborative pianists at RCM, Richard also coaches chamber music and leads the Concerto Performance module. He has examined and adjudicated at the UK’s leading conservatoires - including the Sterndale Bennett prize for Romantic piano music at the Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall’s Artist Diploma Keyboard recitals - and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2021.

Faculties / departments: Keyboard, Junior Department