Eleanor Hodgkinson

Pianist Eleanor Hodgkinson divides her time between performing, teaching, examining and writing. A versatile chamber musician, she has been part of numerous collaborations and given many premieres of British music. Notable partnerships include those with the Villiers Quartet, cellist Nick Stringfellow and pianist Jakob Fichert. From 1999 to 2004 she was a member of the Elgin Piano Trio, performing to acclaim throughout the UK. Solo recital work has taken her to North America, Denmark, Holland, Germany and France. Orchestral piano work has led to frequent engagements with Mid Wales Opera, Southern Sinfonia and Orchestra of the Swan including commissions, broadcasts, recordings and education projects. With Orchestra of the Swan, she recorded the chamber version of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde for Somm Recordings in 2010, and in 2015 was part of a music and poetry presentation of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time with actress Harriet Walters given at the Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival.

Hodgkinson’s education and outreach work experience is wide, having worked extensively on projects with Mid Wales Opera, Nevill Holt Opera and Orchestra of the Swan. She has also written and directed several education projects of her own, including The Moon Ants Law which was supported by The RC Sheriff Trust and Surrey County Council. 2014 saw the launch of BabyGigs in Leicestershire, which presents concerts for babies and preschoolers alongside workshops in primary schools.

Hodgkinson studied piano at the Royal Northern College of Music with Renna Kellaway before specialising in piano accompaniment as a postgraduate student with Carole Presland supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. She was subsequently awarded a scholarship to study piano accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music with Malcolm Martineau, completing her studies in 1998. Additional scholarships enabled her to attend the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove and the Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada, where she undertook a residency with her piano trio in 2001. Hodgkinson returned to education at the University of Sheffield, obtaining an MA in Music Psychology in 2013. Her dissertation, Can Improvisation Alleviate Performance Anxiety? An Exploration Amongst Musicians of Different Genres, was awarded a Distinction and formed the basis of a chapter in New Thoughts on Piano Performance: Research at the Interface between Science and the Art of Piano Performance published by the London International Piano Symposium.

Based in Leicestershire, Hodgkinson is a senior lecturer in piano at Leeds College of Music, visiting tutor in piano at Royal Holloway, University of London and teaches piano and chamber music at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music. She is a trainer, examiner and piano syllabus consultant for the ABRSM.

For more information, visit www.eleanorhodgkinson.co.uk.