David Owen Norris
Pianist
David Owen Norris is a pianist, composer and broadcaster. He won the Prize of the City of Geneva in the Geneva Competition, and the Accompanist’s Prize at Leeds; and since his appointment to the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award (a direct result of his controversial performances in the Sydney Piano Competition), has performed all across the world, with appearances in the BBC Proms, concert tours of Europe, Australia and North America, including performances at Sydney Opera House, the Kennedy Centre, Lincoln Centre, Ravinia Festival Chicago, the South Bank Centre etc. and a discography of 60 commercial CDs including his own Piano Concerto with the BBC Concert Orchestra, and his oratorio Prayerbook. His other compositions include a Symphony, the oratorio Turning Points, and the multi-media tribute to the passing seasons, HengeMusic. He recently gave the premiere of his Piano Sonata.
His Chord of the Week programmes on BBC2 television were a popular feature of the Proms for six years. His Perfect Pianists is often shown on BBC4. He has contributed to programmes on Parry, Vaughan Williams, Tippett, Mendelssohn & Elgar, including ninety minutes on BBC2 dedicated to Elgar’s Piano Concerto, with a full, filmed performance with the BBCSO. His first TV presentation, The Real Thing? from 1990, was hailed by the Daily Telegraph as ‘the most literate and probing programme on music for many years’, and his most recent Chord of the Week was reviewed by the Observer as ‘the most consistently intelligent three minutes you’ll watch on this or any other television this year’. The Beethoven 9 app for which he wrote the book and the analyses won the Best Music App Award.
His many radio presentations have included the Playlist series on Radio 4, and In Tune and The Works on Radio 3, where he recently made his 33rd appearance on Building a Library. Recordings recently released include Mozart on fortepiano for Hyperion, featured in the New York Times, the complete Chamber Music of Grace Williams, which was a Guardian CD of the Week, and the complete songs of Sir Arthur Sullivan on Chandos
David Owen Norris is a pianist, composer and broadcaster. He won the Prize of the City of Geneva in the Geneva Competition, and the Accompanist’s Prize at Leeds; and since his appointment to the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award, has performed all across the world, with many appearances in the BBC Proms, concert tours of Europe, Australia and North America, including performances at Sydney Opera House, Kennedy Centre, Lincoln Centre, Ravinia Festival Chicago, South Bank Centre, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Three Choirs Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Brighton Festival, Edinburgh Festival etc. and a discography of 60 commercial CDs including his own Piano Concerto with the BBC Concert Orchestra, and his oratorio Prayerbook. His other compositions include a Symphony, the oratorio Turning Points, and the multi-media tribute to the passing seasons, HengeMusic.
His Chord of the Week programmes on BBC2 television were a popular feature of the Proms for six years. His Perfect Pianists is often repeated on BBC4. He has contributed to programmes on Parry, Vaughan Williams, Mendelssohn & Elgar, including ninety minutes on BBC2 dedicated to Elgar’s Piano Concerto, with a full, filmed performance with the BBCSO. His first TV presentation, The Real Thing? from 1990, was hailed by the Daily Telegraph as ‘the most literate and probing programme on music for many years’, and his most recent Chord of the Week was reviewed by the Observer as ‘the most consistently intelligent three minutes you’ll watch on this or any other television this year’. The Beethoven 9 app for which he wrote the book and the analyses won the Best Music App Award.
His many radio presentations have included the Playlist series on Radio 4, and In Tune and The Works on Radio 3, where he makes his 33rd appearance on Building a Library in March comparing recordings of Walton’s Viola Concerto. Recent recordings include Mozart on fortepiano for Hyperion, featured in the New York Times, the complete songs of Sir Arthur Sullivan for Chandos, and the complete Chamber Music of Grace Williams for Naxos, which was a Guardian CD of the Week. The Wellspring (Seren Books), a series of conversations with his son, the novelist and playwright Barney Norris, deals with cultural inheritance and the question of Englishness across a spectrum of different arts. Developed as a stage show at the request of Royal&Derngate, Northampton, it toured widely in 2022 to critical acclaim.
David Owen Norris was Artistic Director of the Cardiff International Festival and the Petworth Festival, and Chairman of the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. He was Gresham Professor of Music in the City of London, and is now Professor of Musical Performance at the University of Southampton, Visiting Professor at the Royal Northern College of Music, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, the Royal Academy of Music, and of the Society of Antiquaries of London. He is an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford.
Updated: 23/9/23
