BOWEN, YORK (1884–1961)

Cristina Ortiz began studies in her native Brazil before moving to Paris with a scholarship where she worked with Magda Tagliaferro. After winning a gold medal at the third Van Cliburn Competition in Texas, she went on to complete an invaluable period of tuition under the guidance of the legendary Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia before choosing to settle in London. In an international career her natural musicality, masterful craftsmanship and timeless commitment to refined playing have ensured her a place among the most respected pianists in the world. She has performed with leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony, Philharmonia and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras amongst many others, and has collaborated with conductors such as Neeme Järvi, Mariss Jansons, Kurt Masur, André Previn and David Zinman. Beyond the platform, Cristina Ortiz has recorded some thirty albums featuring a wide range of repertoire on EMI Classics, Decca, Collins Classics and, most recently, on Intrada, Naxos and BIS. Between recitals and concerto performances, she is a committed teacher, giving masterclasses worldwide as well as private peripatetic lessons. She has recently held workshops at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the Australian National Academy of Music, the National Centre for the Arts in Mexico, the Tokyo College of Music, and the Per Piano Solo Festival in Amandola, Italy, as well as throughout Britain.

Described by Saint-Saëns as ‘the most remarkable of the young British composers’, York Bowen was widely known as a pianist and as a composer, his fame reaching its zenith in the years immediately preceding the First World War. The youngest of three sons, he was born on 22 February 1884 at Crouch Hill, London. In 1898 he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, studying piano with Tobias Matthay and composition with Frederick Corder until 1905. A gifted student, he won many prizes for piano and composition, including the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Medal. With regular performances at the Queen’s Hall and later at the Royal Albert Hall, his piano playing received critical acclaim for its technical and artistic excellence. In addition to his successful career as a solo (virtuoso) pianist, he formed celebrated duos with the great viola player Lionel Tertis and the pianist Harry Isaacs. Active as a musician to the last, Bowen died suddenly at his home in Hampstead at the age of 77 on 23 November 1961.