Part of Chetham’s International Piano Summer School 2026.
Between Wednesday 12 – Saturday 22 August, Chetham’s International Piano Summer School brings world class and legendary musicians to a vibrant, supportive community in central Manchester, now celebrating it’s 25th anniversary year. Alongside lectures, open lessons and opportunities to develop new skills, you can discover a daily programme of recitals from world-class performers.
Seating for these events will be unallocated. If you have any access requirements, please do let us know at boxoffice@stollerhall.com or on 0333 130 0967. You can find out more about access in our building here. Our venue will be open half an hour before each public performance and will close in between performances.
Day Four
Young Artist’s Recital with Chetham’s School of Music Students, 1.45pm-2.30pm
Tickets £5.50. Students/U18 Free
Today we welcome young pianists currently studying at Chetham’s.
Pak Yin Rimsky Lee TBC
Lily Fisher TBC
Bowen Ha
BRITTEN Notturno
BEETHOVEN Sonata Op. 53, ‘Waldstein’ 1st Movement Allegro Con Brio
Piano Summer School Lecture – Levelling Down: Why Easier Repertoire Can Produce Better Piano Playing with Murray McLachlan, 5.15pm-6pm
Tickets £11.50, Students/U18 £5.50
Professional, peer and personal pressures often encourage pianists to pursue ever more technically demanding repertoire, sometimes at the expense of artistic freedom and musical satisfaction. This lecture explores how working on easier repertoire can create greater space for imagination, sound quality, phrasing, voicing, colour and character, allowing pianists to develop the most important aspects of musicianship more fully. Through examples from the concert platform, teaching studio and piano literature, the talk challenges the assumption that harder repertoire necessarily leads to better playing.
A Recital by Ji Liu, 7pm
Tickets £22.50, Students/U18 £5.50
Dr Ji Liu combines a distinguished and multifaceted career as a pianist, composer, scholar and educator. As an international soloist, he has performed at venues and festivals including Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Auditorium du Louvre, Royal Concertgebouw, National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, Henley Festival, Petworth Festival, Bristol Proms, Verbier Festival, etc. At Classic FM’s 25th anniversary, Ji Liu performed for His Majesty King Charles III and other distinguished guests at the Dumfries House.
We are thrilled to welcome Ji to Stoller Hall for the first time, in a thrilling recital of all 24 Chopin Studies.
Ji Lui Etude No.1
CHOPIN
Études Op. 10
Études Op. 25
A Recital by Gulsin Onay, 8.30pm
Tickets £22.50, Students/U18 £5.50
Gülsin Onay holds the title of State Artist in her native Turkey, where for many years she has been official soloist for the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Ankara. She is “Artist in Residence” at Bilkent University in Ankara and holds honorary doctoral degrees from Bosphorus University in Istanbul, and from Hacettepe University in Ankara. In 2007 she was honoured with the award of a State Medal by the Polish nation for her interpretation of the music of Chopin.
She has performed as a soloist with such leading orchestras as Dresden Staatskapelle, Philharmonia Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Japan Philharmonic, Munich Radio Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic and Vienna Symphony Orchestras. Conductors with which she has performed include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Erich Bergel, Michael Boder, Andrey Boreyko, Jorg Faerber, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Edward Gardner, Neeme Jarvi, Emmanuel Krivine, Ingo Metzmacher and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
J.S. BACH Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825
Ahmed Adnan SAYGUN 2 Preludes in Aksak Rhythm, Op. 45 Nos.4 & 12
CHOPIN Sonata in B minor, op.58
