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The English pianist, Jill Crossland, began playing the piano at the age of four. She studied at Chethams School and the Royal Northern College of Music, with Charles Hopkins and Ryszard Bakst. While a student, she performed the complete cycle of J.S. Bach's '48 Preludes and Fugues' from memory, won the Pinsen Book Prize for her Bach playing, and was a semi-finalist at the VIIth International Bach Competition, in Leipzig. After winning the Edward Boyle Scholarship, she studied in Vienna with Paul Badura-Skoda and performed throughout Austria as soloist and chamber player.
Jill Crossland has now performed extensively throughout the UK. She has given concerto performances with the City of Bradford CO and the Manchester Camerata, with whom she appeared at the Last Night of the Proms in Leeds Town Hall. Jill is a Steinway Artist and has given a recital in Steinway Hall to promote the 32 Short Films on Glenn Gould. She has performed abroad in Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and in Amsterdam and Den Haag as part of the Anglo-Dutch Piano Platform. She gave a particularly well-received performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) in the South Bank's 'Fresh' series, and has made a number of other appearances at the Purcell Room. In 2004, she made a very successful Wigmore Hall solo debut in January and returned for a second recital in the same year in December. She also returned to the RNCM for the first time since graduating, to play the Goldbergs.
Recordings: Jill Crossland's recording of the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) was issued by Warner Classics in May 2003, featured in the Classical Charts and is into its second pressing. She made recordings of J.S. Bach, Mozart and L.v. Beethoven in 2003, available through the Divine Art Record Company, a leading independent record company based in the North of England. She has completed her recording of J.S. Bach's '48 Preludes and Fugues' (Well-tempered Clavier), by recording Book 2 in August 2004 (Book 1 in September 2003), together with some George Frideric Handel, engineered by Mike Hatch of Floating Earth.
Jill Crossland has been much in demand as a chamber player, and has given numerous duo recitals as well as piano duet concerts with her brother Neil. She has undertaken frequent freelance engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra, working with, among others, Vadim Repin, Kent Nagano, Yuri Bashmet, Michael Tilson Thomas, John Adams and Sir Colin Davis. Jill has made regular radio and television broadcasts, including live performances on Radio 3 and 4 and a recent appearance on Ireland's Late Late Show with the violinist Chloe Hanslip. She has recorded a number of film soundtracks, including the drama Pollyanna, broadcast by ITV on New Year's Day 2003.
Currently, Jill Crossland will make her Bridgewater Hall debut this coming January (2007). Shortly after, she will give the John Ogdon memorial recital (which will also celebrate Mozart's 250th birthday) in Ogdon's home town of Mansfield and return to the Wigmore Hall in London. She is securing a steadily increasing number of concert engagements, regularly updated on the calendar page. |
