Martin Roscoe

Pianist Martin Roscoe is a versatile figure who is quite well known in his native Britain, having established ongoing relationships with several regional orchestras and made multiple appearances at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts. He performs as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician, and he is also a noted educator. Roscoe has issued cycles of the keyboard music of several late Romantic and modern composers. His large recording catalog includes an album devoted to the piano concertos of George Lloyd, recorded in 1984 from a radio broadcast but not issued until 2024. Roscoe was born August 3, 1952, in the village of Halton, now part of Runcorn, near Manchester, England. Amazed by a Proms performance of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique at the age of seven, he soon decided to devote his life to music. As a teen, he won major British awards: the Davas Gold Medal (1973), the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians (1974), and the British Liszt Piano Competition (1976). Roscoe attended the Royal Manchester College of Music, studying piano with Marjorie Clementi (a descendant of composer Muzio Clementi) and Gordon Green. After graduating from the College, he won a prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition in 1981, and his career was launched. In 1988, Roscoe made his recording debut with an album of George Lloyd's piano works. Roscoe has made repeated appearances with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Manchester Camerata, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He has also made solo appearances with the BBC Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, and beyond Britain, with the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra, appearing with Simon Rattle, Christoph von Dohnányi, and other top conductors. As a recitalist, Roscoe has appeared around Britain and as far afield as the U.S., Hong Kong, and Australia. He has been especially active as a chamber musician, partnering with the likes of cellist Steven Isserlis and the Brodsky and Maggini string quartets. Roscoe has a longstanding duo piano partnership with Peter Donohoe, with whom he recorded a successful album of George Gershwin's music for the Carlton Classics label. He has taught at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Royal Northern College of Music, and the Royal Academy of Music, as well as directing the Beverley Chamber Music Festival and the Ribble Valley International Piano Week. Having made more than 300 radio appearances, Roscoe is a familiar figure to BBC listeners, and his recording catalog is sizable. He joined violinist Peter Cropper for recordings of Beethoven's complete violin sonatas on the ASV label, and he has recorded cycles of the piano music of several late Romantic and modern composers. Roscoe has recorded for ASV, Chandos, and Hyperion, among other labels; on Hyperion in 2019, he issued the fourth volume in his complete cycle of Ernö Dohnányi's piano music, as well as joining the Brodsky Quartet for a recording of Elgar's Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84. The pandemic year of 2020 saw a recording of Elgar and Vaughan Williams sonatas by violinist Jennifer Pike, backed by Roscoe. By the time his recording of Lloyd piano concertos appeared on the Lyrita label in 2024, his recording catalog comprised well over 50 items. ~ James Manheim, Rovi