Welcome to the Pianola Partnership's website.
Here you will find news of the concerts and other activity undertaken by the partnership, as well as background information about the Pianola instrument and its great versatility.
Michael Broadway works with several musicians, composers and actors including:
Vaninne Parker, soprano - Vaninne Parker studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she won major awards. She has sung for the English Music Theatre Ensemble, Scottish Opera and Kent Opera, where she was also a leading contributor to the company's education programme. Roles for this included Countess (Figaro), Alice (Falstaff), 2nd Lady (Magic Flute), Miss Jessel (Turn of the Screw), Lucy Lockit (Beggar's Opera), and Agrippina. Following a Wigmore recital debut, Vaninne has long enjoyed a wide variety of concert and oratorio commitments in London and the south-east, singing works as diverse as Charpentier's Te Deum, the Bach Passions and B Minor Mass, the Poulenc Gloria, Mozart's C Minor Mass and Britten's Ceremony of Carols. At the Millennium, she was a soloist in the world premier of Alan Bullard's Prime Meridian.
John studied composition, piano and cello at the Royal Academy of Music in
London where he won the Eric Coates composition prize. To pay the bills, John
also found work in films - as a pianist in Lady Chatterley’s Lover and
in an advert for Pot Noodles. Later, Sir Arthur Bliss's widow gave
him the job of cataloguing the great man's private music collection and provided
the surroundings for him to work on his own compositions. Freelance work for
the music publisher Novello followed. He's now a director of Gonzaga
Music.
Among his many creations are Sonatina, Nor’wester Caprice, Dark
Scenes of Winter, the ballet Little Boy Lost and a concerto for
trumpet, oboe and strings, Boreas. He was commissioned to write for
the 1981 St Ives Festival in Cornwall. Other work includes The Christmas
Card, Periwinkle Duo, Viente Divertissement, Babar the Elephant,
Manton Heights, The Christmas Express, Esthwaite Elegy, and for the pianola:
The Witches of Hawkshead - Tarantella Diabolica.
Michael Broadway and Bill Bingham at the
2002 Three Choirs Festival in Worcester.
© Anthony Seldon
You'll find more information on our Concert News page, or you can telephone the Partnership on 020 7254 6145.
Watch this space for news of music rolls and other items you will be able
to purchase through the Pianola Partnership.
(Website updated: 28 September 2007)
