“Real virtuosity… can be given nowdays, but what can differentiate performers is their ability to go beyond that and to reveal their own, and the composer’s, musicality… Nathaniel Mander is about as far from the irritating ‘look-at-me’ antics of some performers as you can get…”
— Andrew Benson-Wilson, London Festival of Baroque Music

“Nathaniel’s imaginative realisation… was a joy throughout… the palette of colours was extraordinary.”
— Hexam Courant

Join us for the inaugural evening and an intimate celebration marking the launch of Music That Lives and The Tonal Composers Society.

Guests will be welcomed with a glass of champagne on arrival, followed by a recital by Nathaniel Mander — leading early keyboard performer and composer — and founding composer and 18th century artistic advisor of Music that Lives and The Tonal Composers’ Society.

In the true spirit of the great 18th and 19th century music salons, the programme will include selected works by Bach, Mozart and Chopin, and a world premiere of an original composition by Nathaniel Mander, composed for our Broadwood & Sonos 1860 fortepiano.

After the performance, we invite you to linger for a relaxed reception with a curated selection of wines and refreshmenets — an opportunity to meet the artist, connect with fellow guests, and step into the first chapter of something truly special.

Nathaniel writes:

“There is nothing quite like the sound of an instrument from a different epoch to fire up the imagination and to transport you back to different times. This is what first enchanted me all those years ago, of course then it was the harpsichord’s crystalline tones that drew me through the mirror. How glad the old masters would be to know that the harpsichord lives again!

Fantastic work has been done to celebrate the instrument through today’s lens but I’ve always had a fascination for the authentic soul of these 18th and 19th century instruments. The elegant proportions, scale, delicacy of sound and tone all speak of a certain sensibility to style and good taste. Better suited to smaller scale encounters in which listeners are drawn in rather that forced back, I’ve always been inexplicably drawn to this aspect of historical keyboards. And so too with pianos; bright toned, silvery speaking instruments that delight with old world charm. Perhaps it wasn’t so much that I was blessed (or cursed) with the natural sensibility of an 18th century gentleman, but rather a lifetime of listening intently to the gentle tones of a beloved musical companion has had such strong influences on my whole being as to render me practically from another age! I’m sure it’s both.

Regardless of such idle musings, how much I delight that the doors of a new salon are flung open once more this May to welcome those curious listeners who like me wanted to travel back in time.

In a recital of music by Bach, Mozart and Chopin in the most intimate of surroundings one can expect to find every elegance to delight the eye and from the music, hopefully, every nuance to charm the ear. I look forward to welcoming you to my concert.”

Evening Schedule

Doors open: 18:45 - with a welcoming glass of champagne or soft drink to start the evening.

Concert: 19:30 - 20:30

Reception: 20:30 - 21:30 - the post-concert reception with a curated selection of wines and soft drinks, offering a chance to continue the conversation, meet the performers, and savor the evening.

Nathaniel Mander - early keyboard performer, composer

Nathaniel Mander is a British keyboardist known for his refined interpretations of early music, particularly from the Baroque and Classical periods. His playing is marked by clarity, expressive nuance, and a deep sensitivity to historical style. 

He began his musical education with Richard Lester in Cirencester and later studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Carole Cerasi. His training continued with influential teachers including Elisabeth Joyé, Skip Sempé, Pierre Hantaï, and Béatrice Martin in Paris and Rome—experiences that helped shape his stylistic versatility and interpretive approach. 

Nathaniel has received several awards, including first prize at the Early Keyboard Ensemble Competition at Fenton House and the Broadwood Harpsichord Competition, as well as the Harold Samuel Bach Prize from the Royal Academy. He held the Linda Hill Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music for two consecutive years. 

His performances have taken him across Europe, the US, and South America, both as a soloist and ensemble player. He has collaborated with Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski and performed at the Palais Garnier as part of their 2022 opera season. His repertoire spans from Elizabethan keyboard music through to Mozart, Schubert, and early Romantic composers, often performed on period instruments. 

A recent highlight was a private performance for Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, in the lavish George IV rooms at Windsor Castle.

Nathaniel’s discography includes The 18th-Century French Salon and a critically praised recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which received top marks from the Dutch specialist Classical music magazine, Luister. He also premiered and recorded a harpsichord concerto composed for him by Barry Mills with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra. 

In addition to performing, Nathaniel is committed to education and outreach. He teaches, gives masterclasses, adjudicates competitions, and has developed a series of instructional online videos available from his website.

With a thoughtful, historically informed approach and a growing international presence, Nathaniel Mander continues to be a distinctive voice in the world of early keyboard music. 

“…A disarming technique coupled with an undoubted intellectual mastery made Julian Jacobson’s recital an awe-inspiring experience…” — Daily Telegraph

“…Real poise, delicacy of touch and judicious pedalling… stylish and enchanting…”
— The Guardian

“…this major British voice in world-ranking pianism, so justly celebrated by his faithful following…”
— Music & Vision Daily

Renowned British pianist Julian Jacobson brings his masterful touch to our music salon for an evening of classical music brilliance. The programme includes Haydn’s C minor Sonata, Hob. XVI:20 (also listed as No. 33 in some catalogues), works by Beethoven and Chopin, and a set of three original compositions, bridging the creative voices of his father, Maurice Jacobson, his mother, Margaret Lyell, and his own, celebrating a living family legacy of musical creativity and composition.

Evening Schedule

Doors: 18:45 - with a welcoming glass of wine or soft drink to start the evening.

First Set: 19:30 - 20:15

Intermission / Refreshments: 20:15 - 20:30

Second Set: 20:30 - 21:15

Reception: 21:15 - 22:00 - the post-concert reception with a curated selection of wines and soft drinks, offering a chance to continue the conversation, meet the artist, and savor the evening.

Julian Jacobson - piano

One of Britain’s most creative and distinctive pianists, Julian Jacobson is acclaimed for the vitality, colour and insight he brings to his enormous repertoire across all styles and periods. In a career spanning five decades, he has performed extensively in over 40 countries while maintaining an intensive UK concert and recording schedule. His 70th birthday in 2017 was marked by concerts in London and Paris where he performed Prokofiev’s “War Trilogy” (sonatas 6, 7 and 8) alongside sonatas by Schubert and Beethoven, to critical acclaim.

Born in Peebles, Scotland, to distinguished musicians, his father Maurice Jacobson studied briefly with Busoni, and his mother, pianist-composer Margaret Lyell, trained in Berlin with Else Krause, daughter of Liszt’s pupil Martin Krause. Julian studied piano with Lamar Crowson and composition with Arthur Benjamin from the age of seven, publishing four songs by nine. Further studies at the Royal College of Music and Queen’s College, Oxford, were supplemented by his role as inaugural pianist in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and lessons with the Hungarian pianist Louis Kentner.

He made his London debut at the Purcell Room in 1974, followed by appearances in the Park Lane Group’s Young Artists series and his Wigmore Hall debut as both soloist and chamber musician. In the 1980s he established himself as a duo and ensemble pianist, collaborating with Zara Nelsova, Sándor Végh, Ivry Gitlis, Lydia Mordkovitch, David Geringas, Christian Lindberg, Manuela Wiesler, and many leading UK instrumentalists including Nigel Kennedy, Steven Isserlis, Moray Welsh, Colin Carr, Alexander Baillie, and Philippa Davies.

Appointed Head of Keyboard Studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 1992, he increasingly focused on solo work. In 1994 he embarked on his first complete cycle of Beethoven’s 32 sonatas, now presented eleven times, including five “marathon” performances from memory in a single day — only the second pianist to attempt this. His 2003 marathon at St James’s Church Piccadilly raised over £6,000 for WaterAid, and his 2013 marathon at St Martin-in-the-Fields was streamed worldwide. In November 2022 he marked his 75th birthday with performances in London and at the Festival of Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. Since 2014, he is Chairman of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe, organising concerts, competitions, and events for young players.

Jacobson has performed as soloist with the London Symphony, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, London Sinfonietta, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Bucharest Philharmonic, Icelandic Symphony, and Royal Omani Symphony, with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle and Jane Glover. Festival appearances include Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Bath, Belfast Sonorities, Brighton, Cheltenham, Dartington, Glasgow, Huddersfield, Norwich, and Prussia Cove.

A committed advocate of contemporary music, he gave the UK premiere of Ligeti’s Etudes Book One in 1987, subsequently recorded for BBC Radio 3. Composers who have written for him include Robert Saxton, Simon Bainbridge, Benedict Mason, Philip Cashian, Daryl Runswick, Keith Tippett, Charles Camilleri, and Robert Keeley; Michael Nyman wrote the piano trio Time Will Pronounce for his ensemble, Trio of London.

His discography spans labels including Meridian, Chandos, Hyperion, Decca Argo, BIS, Continuum, Metier, and SOMM, featuring works from Schumann, Dvořák, Balakirev, Weber, Martinu, Enescu, Vaughan Williams, Fricker, Rawsthorne, and Gershwin, including transcriptions of An American in Paris and Second Rhapsody recorded with duo partner Mariko Brown. Other compositions include five film scores (‘To the Lighthouse’, ‘Hard Travelling’, We Think the World of You) and a screen appearance in The Fourth Protocol.

Julian Jacobson is Professor of Piano and Chamber Music at the Royal College of Music and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Guest Professor at Xiamen University (China), and has given masterclasses worldwide. He was Artistic Director of the Paxos International Festival, Greece, 1988–2004, and in the 2000s added Sprechstimme in Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire to his repertoire, performing it in October 2009 at Jacqueline du Pré Hall, Oxford.

Programme details coming soon.

Evening Schedule

Doors: 18:45 - with a welcoming glass of wine or soft drink to start the evening.

First Set: 19:30 - 20:15

Intermission / Refreshments: 20:15 - 20:30

Second Set: 20:30 - 21:15

Reception: 21:15 - 22:00 - the post-concert reception with a curated selection of wines and soft drinks, offering a chance to continue the conversation, meet the artist, and savor the evening.

Tyler Hay was born in 1994 and first showed a prodigious talent for the piano when he won the Dennis Loveland award in Kent for his performance of Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz no 1 at the age of 11. He gained a place to study at the Purcell School in 2007 where he studied under Tessa Nicholson. He continued his studies with Graham Scott and Frank Wibaut at the Royal Northern College of Music and with Niel Immelman and Gordon Fergus-Thompson for a Masters degree at the Royal College of Music.

Tyler has performed programmes at Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and the Purcell Room and has played Ravel’s Concerto for Left Hand Alone at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto no 2 at Symphony Hall with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

In 2016, Tyler won first prize in the keyboard section of the Royal Overseas League Competition and as well as winning the RNCM’s Gold medal competition, also won first prize in the Liszt Society International Competition.

Tyler won 1st prize in the Dudley International Piano Competition in November, 2022. CDs of Liszt, John Ogdon, Kalkbrenner and Field are available on Brilliant Classics and an album of virtuoso piano music by contemporary British composer Simon Proctor is also available on Navona Records.

Helen Hughson (singer) and Yvonne Cheng (piano) present a programme exploring the beauty and nostalgia of the Romantic repertoire, performing selected works by Brahms, Mahler, Britten and Clara Schumann.

Yvonne writes:

“This programme features works that reflect on love, youth, memory, and distance - both emotional and physical. Britten’s A Charm of Lullabies presents childhood and care-giving from differing perspectives, while songs by composers including Brahms and Mahler explore longing for people and places, with ideas of home, ageing, and loss quietly threaded throughout.”

Evening Schedule

Doors open: 18:45 - with a welcoming glass of wine or soft drink to start the evening.

Concert: 19:30 - 20:30

Reception: 20:30 - 21:30 - the post-concert reception with a curated selection of wines and soft drinks, along with light refreshments kindly provided by Malaki’s Cafe, offering a chance to continue the conversation, meet the performers, and savor the evening.

Helen Hughson - singer

Helen Hughson is a singer whose work spans a huge range of vocal styles. She works with professional choirs in London and across Europe, performing repertoire from 12th century polyphony to new music. She has also appeared on numerous film, television and video game soundtracks, including Frankenstein, Succession, and World of Warcraft. As a recitalist her repertoire ranges from medieval Italian madrigals to contemporary art song. Helen comes from Australia via the University of York, where she completed the unique Solo Voice Ensemble Singing Master’s programme.

Yvonne Cheng - piano

Yvonne Cheng started playing the piano at age 3. She studied piano at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and has a Master of Music degree from Royal Holloway, University of London. Yvonne is a founding member of Bentham’s Body Ensemble, playing alongside award-winning musicians: clarinetist Julia Foellmer and cellist Tabitha Tuckett. Trying her hand at composing, Yvonne has collaborated with artists from the Slade School of Art & independent filmmakers from Hong Kong-Taiwan. Yvonne also works as an administrator for the European Piano Teachers Association and Beethoven Piano Society Of Europe, and is a trained piano technician.

Shirley Smart - cello
Ben Smith - piano
TBC - violin

This innovative new piano trio explores great masterworks of the piano trio literature, interspersed with improvisatory performance based on a variety of sources, including classical works, folk music and jazz as well as free improvisation and original works. Its three members all draw on a strong classical background, whilst being recognised as leading improvisers in their fields and spanning multiple genres. They present a programme combining both traditional and contemporary approaches to the piano trio recital format.

Programme notes coming soon.

Evening Schedule

Doors: 18:45 - with a welcoming glass of wine or soft drink to start the evening.

First Set: 19:30 - 20:15

Intermission / Refreshments: 20:15 - 20:30

Second Set: 20:30 - 21:15

Reception: 21:15 - 22:00 - the post-concert reception with a curated selection of wines and soft drinks, offering a chance to continue the conversation, meet the artist, and savor the evening.

Shirley Smart - cello

Shirley Smart is recognised as one of the UK’s most versatile and creative cellists – being equally at home and well versed in jazz and Middle Eastern music, as well as classical music. Originally trained under Raphael Wallfisch at the Guildhall School of Music, and Janos Starker in Paris, she subsequently spent 10 years  in Jerusalem, studying and performing a wide variety of musical traditions from the region. She  worked with many leading artists including Avishai Cohen, Omer Avital and Yasmin Levy. On returning to the UK, she has established herself as a unique performer,  in demand with artists such as Mulatu Astatke, Maya Youssef, Neil Cowley, and Robert Mitchell. She also leads her own projects and released her first trio album ‘Long Story Short’ in 2018 to critical acclaim.

She has appeared at numerous festivals in the UK and abroad and recent highlights include the Cheltenham Festival, EFG London Jazz Festival, Lichfield, Aberjazz, Birmingham and Scarborough Jazz Festivals, Vivacello Festival in Moscow and Biennale Festival in the Netherlands.

As well as her educational work at the Royal College of Music, Shirley is also a Lecturer at Kent University, and teaches at Trinity Laban. She has given workshops for Chethams School of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, National Youth Jazz Collective, Jazzlines, Trinity Laban and the Universities of Cardiff, Huddersfield, Manchester, Kent and Surrey.

Ben Smith - piano 

Ben Smith is a pianist and composer specialising in contemporary and experimental music. Hailed as one of “the finest new-music pianists in London” (Tempo) and a player of “extraordinary precision and insight” (The Guardian), he is in demand both as a soloist and chamber performer (An Assembly, Apartment House, Athelas Sinfonietta, Apartment House, Explore Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, Riot Ensemble, Uproar Ensemble). Known for daring and virtuosic performances which traverse the extremes of the contemporary repertoire, he has given dozens of world premieres across the UK and Europe, including Aldeburgh Festival, BBC Total Immersion, Cafe OTO, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, London Contemporary Music Festival, Musicon, Ny Musik i Birkerød, Spitalfields Music, Transit: Festival voor nieuwe muziek, and at London venues Ambika P3, Barbican Hall, Hackney Round Chapel, Kings Place, Milton Court Concert Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Wigmore Hall.

In recent years he has conducted premiere performances of Sarah Angliss’s Giant (Royal Opera House; Aldeburgh Festival), Alastair White’s RUNE, (Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival) and regularly works as an Associate MD on Operation Mincemeat (Fortune Theatre). Recording projects include works by Nomi Epstein and Paul Newland (another timbre), Brian Ferneyhough and Alastair White (métier), and the complete piano works of Evan Johnson (all that dust). Ben was a Junior Fellow at Guildhall School of Music & Drama from 2020-2022, where he previously studied with Laurence Crane, Rolf Hind, and James Weeks.