Jonathan Powell is a pianist and composer. After studies with Denis Matthews and Sulamita Aronovsky, he established an international career as a soloist, his programmes ranging from standard Classical and Romantic repertoire to contemporary and little-known 20th century works. He has performed widely in Europe, as well as in Russia and the US; he has also appeared on national radio of many countries (in 2005 and 2008 he gave solo recitals on Radio France Musique), in addition to numerous appearances on the BBC.

Past highlights include solo recitals in New York, the Musica Nova Festival in Helsinki, the Festival Radio France et Montpellier, Festival de Chaillol (Hautes-Alpes France, performing the complete Goyescas), the Raritäten der Klaviermusik am Schloss vor Husum, the International Reggello Festival (Italy), Vredenburg Muziekcentrum in Utrecht, and concerts in the Russian Academy of Music (Moscow) and the Sheremetevsky Palace (St Petersburg). In the UK, his concerts have taken him to venues ranging from the Royal Festival Hall to university departments and local town halls.

2008 saw him perform in Moscow (at the palace of music publisher Jurgenson, courtesy of the Composers’ Union), in the Altes Rathaus, Vienna (at the invitation of the Joseph Marx Society) and in masterclass and concert tours of Denmark. He ended the season with concerts in the Netherlands, UK and, again, Denmark.

In 2009 he has performed in Spain, Denmark and Ukraine, where he gave the first performance in Kyiv of the Piano Sonata of Bax, written in that city in 1910, and which he will also play this year in Levoca. He also gave premiere performances in Kyiv of the 'Concord' Sonata of Charles Ives, the 'Symphonie' of C. V. Alkan, and the 'Concerto for solo piano no. 4' by Michael Finnissy. He also took part in the 2009 Husum Festival (Germany) in August.

Powell has worked with many leading composers such as Ambrosini, Ferneyhough, Finnissy and Staud. As well as giving UK premières of pieces by Sciarrino, Feldman and Salonen, he has commissioned many new works. Powell is also active as a recording artist, with more than ten CDs to his name. He has been involved in projects with companies such as ASV, Altarus, Largo, Danacord and Toccata Classics. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with ’cellist Rohan de Saran, violinist Marcus Barcham Stevens, singers Sarah Leonard and Lore Lixenberg and pianist Jørgen Hald Nielsen.

Powell is a self-taught composer – he has recorded several of his own works for BBC broadcasts and has received performances by the London Sinfonietta, the Arditti Quartet, Valdine Anderson, Sarah Leonard, Darragh Morgan and Nicolas Hodges among others. His articles on many aspects of Russian music appear in the New Grove Dictionary of Music; his articles have been published by International Piano and the Finnish musicological journal Musiikki-lehti.

Jonathan's solo recital at the Festival includes the complete 'Kaleidoscope' of the Slovak composer Eugen Suchoň, the 'Night Wind' Sonata of Medtner, and Rachmaninoff's 'Variations on a Theme of Chopin'. In a further concert together with the Ukrainian Quartet 'Post Scriptum' he will also perform the piano quintets of Arnold Bax and Edward Elgar.