Ashok Gupta

British pianist Ashok Gupta (b.1988) studied at Cambridge University, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Ashok is the recipient of the Chamber Music Prize in the Bonn International Beethoven Competition, the Kerr Memorial Prize in London’s Royal Overseas League Competition, and the Accompanist’s Prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Competition.  He was also awarded the Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement from Birmingham City University and the Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

Ashok has performed in major concert venues including the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn; the Wigmore Hall, London; the Berlin Philharmonie; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; the Sage, Gateshead and the Mozarteum, Salzburg.  He has also performed in several international music festivals including the BBC Proms, the London Music Festival and Oxford Lieder Festival.

Ashok’s versatility as a continuo player and orchestral keyboardist has put him in demand with several leading orchestras and conductors, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Sir Roger Norrington, the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda, the Irish Chamber Orchestra under Jonathan Cohen and the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra under Ivor Bolton.  With the Mozarteum Orchestra, he has appeared as fortepiano soloist in Jonathan Dove’s An Airmail Letter from Mozart, which brought together his fondness for historical instruments and contemporary music.  In November this year he will play continuo with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester in a cycle of Mozart’s last three symphonies.

Ashok has also worked as a répétiteur for some of Europe’s leading opera companies, including Glyndebourne Festival Opera, English National Opera and Dutch National Opera.

Ashok’s areas of interest include early music, jazz and American music.  In 2016 he devised and performed a “Scott Joplin Cabaret” for Cheltenham International Festival, exploring the composer’s life and influences with an ensemble of singers and players. 

Ashok is grateful to the Leverhulme Trust, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Leonard Hancock Memorial Foundation for their support, and to his teachers Margaret Fingerhut, Charles Owen, Pascal Nemerovski and Helen Porter.