WORLDWIDE REPRESENTATIONNick van Bloss
"Sublime poetry, playfulness and, above all, a relish of what the modern piano can bring to this music in terms of dynamics, colour and articulation" - The Sunday Times
Introduction
"Immaculately-articulated authority - thunderous grandeur"
Michael Church, The Independent (Wigmore Hall, all-Beethoven recital)
After a 15 year absence from the concert platform, a London ‘comeback’ saw Nick van Bloss attract worldwide media attention with a concert described as ‘Triumphant’. Since then, his concerts and recordings have attracted glowing reviews - Classical Piano Magazine writing that his CD of Bach’s Goldberg Variations had ‘left critics clawing at superlatives’ and the Miami Herald stating that ‘Van Bloss’ refined artistry and artistic discernment mark him as a pianist of rare gifts’ after his Festival debut.
Nick van Bloss was born in London and began piano lessons at the age of 11. His musical training began as a chorister at Westminster Abbey and he entered the Royal College of Music at the age of 15 where he studied with Yonty Solomon. After winning multiple competitions whilst still a student at the Royal College, he went on to study with Benjamin Kaplan in London.
Despite choosing to only perform occasionally, Nick van Bloss has performed recitals and concertos in the United States, Japan, Sweden, the Baltics, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Austria, and with the English Chamber Orchestra conducting concertos from the keyboard. He was hailed as a ‘Genius without Vanity’, by the press after his Austrian debut. His 2018, all-Beethoven recital at London’s Wigmore Hall received outstanding reviews and he was immediately invited back to perform Bach’s Goldberg Variations for the following season.
Nick van Bloss' recording of Chopin’s 3rd Sonata and the 24 Preludes was released in 2013, and his 2015 recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations has been hailed as ‘the standard by which other recordings can be judged’, and the CD was further awarded the ‘Supersonic Award’ from Europe’s Pizzicato Magazine.
Biography
Nick van Bloss was born in London and began piano lessons at the age of 11. His musical training began as a chorister at Westminster Abbey and he entered the Royal College of Music at the age of 15 where he studied with Yonty Solomon. In 1987, on hearing him play, the great Russian virtuoso, Tatiana Nikoleyeva, described van Bloss as the ‘finished article of a pianist’.
After winning multiple competitions whilst still a student at the Royal College, he went on to study with Benjamin Kaplan in London.
Aged 26, Nick van Bloss played a televised concert in Poland at the Chopin Festival. This proved to be his last public appearance for 15 years - a time in which he effectively retired from music. During these years van Bloss rarely touched a piano, but he did write his autobiographical memoir ‘Busy Body’, which was published to much acclaim in 2006. The following year he presented a BBC television documentary inspired by his book, exploring his creativity. This led to public interest in his piano playing and, in 2008, he began a series of recordings with award-winning producer Michael Haas, beginning with Bach’s monumental ‘Goldberg’ Variations, and including a recording of Bach’s Keyboard Concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra.
In April 2009, van Bloss made a ‘comeback’ concert at London’s Cadogan Hall, playing a concerto by Bach and Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra. The concert, uniformly reviewed as a ‘Triumph’ by London’s critics, attracted massive television and media attention from all over the globe.
His first CD recording, of J.S.Bach’s Goldberg Variations, received such consistently magnificent reviews that Classical Piano Magazine stated that the recording had ‘left critics clawing at superlatives’. The recording was further featured in a BBC programme dedicated to recordings of the work, presented by Sir Nicholas Kenyon, and van Bloss was chosen in the ‘final four’ alongside Schiff, Gould and Perahia.
Despite choosing to only perform occasionally, Nick van Bloss has performed recitals and concertos in the United States, Japan, Sweden, the Baltics, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Austria, and with the English Chamber Orchestra conducting concertos from the keyboard. He was hailed as a ‘Genius without Vanity’, by the press after his Austrian debut, and was recently described by Latvian Radio as a ‘The Legendary British Pianist’, after his Baltic tour of Beethoven Piano Concertos with Sinfonietta Riga, conducted by Thomas Sanderling. His 2018, all-Beethoven recital at London’s Wigmore Hall received outstanding reviews and he was immediately invited back to perform Bach’s Goldberg Variations for the following season. His recording of Chopin’s 3rd Sonata and the 24 Preludes was released in 2013, and his 2015 recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations has been hailed as ‘the standard by which other recordings can be judged’, and the CD was further awarded the ‘Supersonic Award’ from Europe’s Pizzicato Magazine.
Public Speaking
In addition to a performing career, Nick is a powerful and inspiring public speaker.
Nick is the only acclaimed concert pianist in the world who suffers from severe, non-swearing Tourette Syndrome, a condition that causes him some 70,000 bodily tics per day. However, once he touches a piano, his tics dissipate, and this has been a blessing in enhancing his musical ability, as cited by his friend, the late Oliver Sacks, who wrote a chapter of his book Musicophilia about Nick.
Nick’s message resonates on many levels. His story of triumph over adversity, coupled with the life-altering power of music, places him in a unique position to vividly communicate the challenges he has faced both personally and professionally. His story carries a message of persistence, succeeding against all odds and, ultimately, self acceptance.
In the BBC television documentary Horizon, Nick further explored these themes as he interviewed several people with differing neurological conditions who are helped, and also fuelled by, creative endeavours.
Nick has been featured as guest speaker in multiple countries and in many different institutions, including, UCLA, Yale, Royal College of Music, Miami International Festival, Stockholm, Tokyo, and many music festivals.
Written and spoken interviews with Nick about his life have been featured in The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Observer, Telegraph on Sunday, Daily Mail, Miami Herald, BBC World Service, BBC News, ORF Austria, Good Morning America, CBS News, NPR, Swedish Radio and multiple music-industry magazines.
Programmes
Solo recital proposals
- Recital 1
Ludwig van Beethoven: Variations in F major, Op. 34 - Sonata No. 18 in E flat major, Op. 31 No. 3
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 - Recital 2
Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826
Aaron Copland: Variations for Piano (1930)
Alfredo Casella: Due Ricercari Sul Nome BACH, Op. 52 (1932) - Variations sur une Chaconne, Op. 3 (on a theme by Handel - 1903)
César Franck: Prélude, Choral et Fugue - Recital 3
Domenico Scarlatti: Four Sonatas
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (‘Appassionata’)
Alfred Schnittke: Variations On A Chord (1965)
Robert Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16 - Recital 4
Johann Sebastian Bach: Das wohltemperierte Klavier (BWV 846-893) - Books I and II complete - (multiple concerts, given the scope of the work).
Books I and II may also be presented individually.
Concerto proposals
- Bach Piano Concertos
“Not many pianists can make you listen to all five concertos as if for the first time. Well, Nick van Bloss can. Whatever alchemy he brings to the piano, and his life has been turbulent, Van Bloss finds a quiet certainty in Bach that few others match.”
Norman Lebrecht, CD of the Week
Other repertoire, including works for piano solo, chamber music or piano concertos, are available on request.
Media
LISTEN
Bach - Keyboard Concertos
Concerto in A major, BWV 1055
Allegro - Larghetto - Allegro ma non tanto
Bach - Goldberg Variations
Variation 23 - A 2 Clav.
Aria da Capo
Beethoven - Diabelli Variations
Variation 24 - Fughetta (Andante)
Variation 28 (Allegro)
Chopin - Sonata No. 3 in B minor & 24 Preludes
Preludes, Op. 28 - VIII. Molto agitato
Preludes, Op. 28 - XIII. Lento
Schumann - Kreisleriana & Etudes Symphoniques
Kreisleriana - I. Äusserst bewegt
Etudes Symphoniques - Etude XI
Violin
Cello
String Quartet
Chamber Orchestra
Conductor
