Course Faculty

David was born in London and studied at the Royal College of Music with Neil Immelmann and John Barstow.

He won both the Tagore (the College’s highest award) and Hopkinson Gold Medals and obtained a Master’s Degree with a study of twelve-tone piano music. Two Year’s postgraduate study at Budapest’s Liszt Academy, with Ferenc Rados and Gyorgy Kurtag, were partly funded by a a scholarship from the Countess of Munster Trust, in 1990 David made his London debut with a solo recital in the Park Lane Group series at the Purcell Room.

David has broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and Swedish Radio and appeared as a guest solo pianist with the New York City Ballet. He has also given solo recitals at the South Bank Centre and performed both Brahms’ Piano Concerti at major venues. A strong feature of his performing career has been work as a collaborative pianist specialising in new music; David was principal keyboard of the Brunel Ensemble for many years, as well as collaborating with Chroma and Uroboros. He has appeared at International Contemporary Music Festivals in Huddersfield and London, and performed six concerti at London’s Royal Festival Hall. 

Teaching has always formed a vital part of his work and David has been Head of Keyboard Studies at Cheltenham Ladies’ College since 2008, having previously taught widely, including at the Royal College of Music, the Purcell School and the University of London. He is also an ABRSM Examiner and experienced adjudicator. Over the last few years David has developed an innovative piano summer school for adults, The Thinking Pianist, which launched successfully in 2021 and continues to expand.

Chinese-born British pianist Mengyang Pan began her piano studies in China, eventually becoming a junior student at the Central Conservatory of Music Beijing. Having been offered a full scholarship, she accepted an invitation to study at the Purcell School in the UK before completing her musical education at the Royal College of Music, London.

A brilliantly decorated star, Mengyang is the prize winner of many prestigious competitions including Rina Sala Gallo International Piano competition, Bromsgrove International Young Musician’s Platform, Dudley International Piano Competition, Norah Sands Award, MBF Educational Award, Chappell Gold Medal, Brent International Piano Competition and Ettlingen International Piano Competition. Famed for her graceful charm and wonderful communicative stage presence, Mengyang performs repeatedly in some of the best venues throughout the UK such as the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, St. John’s Smith Square and Royal Albert Hall amongst many others.

As an engaging and inspiring collaborator, Mengyang has appeared with many orchestras and her collaboration with conductors such as Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy, John Wilson and Mikk Murdvee has gained the highest acclaim nationwide. She was presented with the Tagore Gold Medal by HRH Prince Charles in 2007 for outstanding representation of the Royal College of Music, the highest honour possible. In 2011, she was presented to HM Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace for her contribution to the British music and art industry.

Apart from performing, Mengyang is also passionate about teaching. She is currently a professor of piano at Royal College of Music, Imperial College Blyth Centre for Music and Visual Arts and St Paul’s School for boys. She also gives regular masterclasses at schools including the Purcell School, Imperial College, St Paul’s School and her native China, events which are greeted with considerable critical acclaim.

Find out more about Mengyang Pan from  her website linked 

Tim Horton is one of the UK’s leading pianists, equally at home in solo and chamber repertoire. He is a founder member of both the Leonore Piano Trio and Ensemble 360 and has been a regular guest pianist with the Nash Ensemble. He was invited to make his solo debut at Wigmore Hall in 2016 where he will be giving further solo recitals in the coming seasons. Between 2011 and 2015 Tim presented a complete Beethoven Sonata cycle at the Crucible Studio, Sheffield for Music in the Round, and was invited to return to perform a cycle of Schubert Sonatas from 2017-2019.

Following two performances of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and the Royal Festival Hall, London in 1995, at the recommendation of Alfred Brendel, Tim was asked to give concerts with the RLPO, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.

With the Leonore Piano Trio, Tim has given concerts throughout the UK, Scandinavia, New Zealand and Europe. They have performed a cycle of the complete Beethoven Trios at King’s Place, London and have repeated the cycle at various venues since then. They have produced seven discs for Hyperion, including the complete Parry Trios and the Piano Quartet with Rachel Roberts. They have also recorded the complete Piano Trios of David Matthews for Toccata Classics. Future plans include further cycles of the Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn and Dvorak Trios and concerts at the Wigmore Hall and throughout the UK and Europe.

With Ensemble 360, a mixed group of strings, wind and piano that took up residency at the Crucible Studio in Sheffield in 2005, Tim has performed to great acclaim throughout the UK and abroad. The Ensemble presents an annual nine-day festival in May, in collaboration with Music in the Round. The Ensemble has also recorded discs of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Spohr and Poulenc.

He has performed regularly at the Aldeburgh, Bath, Elverum, Plush, Presteigne, Midsummer Music and North Norfolk festivals. In 2018 he was invited to curate two weekends of concerts at the Plush Festival in Dorset. The repertoire included music from Gesualdo, through Bach, Haydn, Beethoven and Brahms, to Stockhausen, Kurtag, Boulez and Michael Berkeley performed by the Fieri Consort, The Heath Quartet, Sir Andras Schiff and many close colleagues from the world of chamber music. In the previous two seasons of the same festival Tim worked closely with Oliver Knussen and Sir Harrison Birtwistle.

Tim has performed with many leading chamber musicians including the Elias, Vertavo and Talich Quartets, Paul Lewis, Imogen Cooper, Alasdair Beatson, Bjorg Lewis, Robin Ireland (with whom he has released two discs), Peter Cropper, Adrian Brendel and Rachel Roberts.

Find out more about Tim Horton from his website https://timhortonpianist.co.uk/biography-and-images/

Andrew Eales is based in Milton Keynes, where he runs a successful piano-teaching studio. He is a published composer and author, and his compositions and recordings have been streamed more than a million times worldwide.

Andrew has worked as a consultant for several leading educational organisations and examination boards. An acclaimed speaker, he has trained and worked alongside teachers across the UK, North America, and Africa. His video feedback service now provides affordable, expert support for piano players the world over.

Andrew is renowned for his piano education website https://pianodao.com, which includes hundreds of free articles and reviews to support piano players and teachers worldwide.

Ivana Gavrić’s playing has been described as “altogether of an extraordinary calibre” (BBC Music Magazine) and “notable for its beautiful sound, musical integrity and introspection” (The Independent). She has attracted considerable praise for her interpretations of a broad range of repertoire, with The Washington Post describing her playing as “impressive, insightful…ravishing”. Ivana is particularly drawn to composers like Janáček, Grieg and Chopin, who each take features of their respective homelands to create a distinctive musical voice, whether from the landscape and nature or from elements of folk music and dance. A long-standing collaboration with the award-winning composer, Cheryl Frances-Hoad has led to solo works and more recently a concerto entitled Between the Skies, the River and the Hills written for Ivana. Ivana is also committed to performing works by female composers of the past, particularly Cécile Chaminade and Dora Pejačević.  

Her recent concerto performances include Grieg and Rachmaninov with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, and Beethoven’s Emperor with the RPO at the Royal Albert Hall. She has also performed with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, South Denmark Philharmonic and Southbank Sinfonia, and has collaborated with conductors including Rafael Payare, Nicholas Collon, Christian Kluxen, Karin Hendrickson and Ben Gernon. She especially enjoys working with chamber orchestras, and highlights to date have included performing with the Trondheim Soloists, Aurora Orchestra and recently Camerata Zürich and City of London Sinfonia. Ivana has been heard on the concert platform at Wigmore Hall, the Barbican, the Berlin Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Zürich, KKL Lucerne and the Gilmore Piano Festival and the Phillips Collection in the USA, as well as across China, in Canada and this season in Peru. She created a sensation with her debut album In the Mists, winning BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year. Her recording of Grieg: Piano Works was selected as Gramophone Editor’s Choice and in 2024 she will be releasing a new album on Signum. 

 A dedicated chamber musician, Ivana has partnered colleagues including Maxim Vengerov, Matthew Barley and Thomas Gould at festivals in the UK and across Europe. She has given the Advanced Piano Masterclass at the Dartington Summer festival for the last three years, and has taken part in the IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music Sessions, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme as well as the outreach scheme Live Music Now. Outside the concert hall she is featured playing Chopin and Beethoven in BBC2’s adaptation of The Line of Beauty, and Bach in Anthony Minghella’s film Breaking and Entering.  

Born into a musical family in Sarajevo and raised in the UK, Ivana studied at the University of Cambridge and at the Royal College of Music. Her teachers include Niel Immelman, Peter Bithell and James Gibb. Ivana is proud to be an ambassador for the charity ‘Music Action International’. 

Find out more: www.ivanagavric.com. 

Image courtesy of Andrej Grilc

Katie Neesa (Maughfling) is an holistic health coach. She combines yoga therapy, ayurvedic health & lifestyle advice, and the use of essential oils with her naturally intuitive healing gift to offer a rounded package of care to her clients. Katie also offers sensitive Reflexology and Metamorphosis sessions which rebalance the whole system by working very gently on the feet.

Katie will leading a gentle yoga practice every other morning pre-breakfast. There will also be the opportunity to experience the restful practice of yoga nidra within a group lesson. Katie will also be on hand to offer private yoga therapy, yoga lessons or ayurvedic health & lifestyle advice bookable in advance. Katie will aim to see all participants throughout the course subject to availability.

https://www.petaloudayoga.com