A masterclass for pianist Anna
An aspiring young pianist from Denny was given the opportunity to learn from one of the world’s most innovative and creative pianists when Joanna MacGregor OBE came to Edinburgh to take St Mary’s Music School’s fourth annual Nigel Murray Masterclass.
Anna Michels, a S6 pupil at St Mary’s Music School, participated in the “Piano Day” event where Joanna MacGregor worked with six senior pupils of the school on music by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Rachmaninov and Ravel.
The masterclass took place in front of an audience of 150 young pianists and their teachers from around Scotland and the North of England who had responded enthusiastically to St Mary’s Music School’s invitation to attend Piano Day.
Anna was born in Stirling and started playing piano aged seven. A former pupil of St Modan’s High School, she moved to St Mary’s Music School in 2013 where she is in her final year. In 2009 Anna entered the Junior Academy of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where she received tuition from Heather Slade- Lipkin who continues to teach her at St Mary’s Music School.
In 2012, Anna won the James Waterhouse Piano Competition and was a finalist in the Edinburgh Competition Festival Concerto in 2015. She has won several prizes at the Edinburgh Competition Festival and the Glasgow Music Festival and in 2015 she won the Directors’ Recital Prize Competition at St Mary’s Music School.
Anna said: “It was an extraordinary opportunity to play piano with and learn from Joanna MacGregor.
“I felt I gained a lot from the experience and it was inspiring to be taught by someone who has gained international recognition for the quality of her performance.”
Joanna MacGregor, who has performed as a solo pianist in more than 70 countries and was awarded an OBE, is currently head of piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London and Visiting Musician at Oriel College, Oxford.
She said: “I always welcome the chance to work with talented young pianists, to assist them to further develop their musical skills, personality and technique.