The choir's most recent
accompanist, Chris Pulleyn, joined in 2011 and left in September this year.
With this in mind, I ventured into the choral world to ask eight conductors in my community about their expectations of choral
accompanists in rehearsals at the high school, collegiate, church and community choir levels.
My curriculum was amazingly invented for me alone when, after meeting and playing in a vocal master class given at NCSA by the great Viennese
accompanist, Paul Ulanovsky, I realized, for the first time, that there were people who actually did professionally what I wanted to do.
The joint and purposeful work of vocal teachers and
accompanists lays the basis for the success and competitiveness of today's singing students.
He is also an
accompanist, singer, organ and piano teacher and composer and been an official
accompanist for the Llangollen International Eisteddfod since 2006.
In January, Maria Martinez, a cellist from Spain, and Mia Elezovic, a Croatian piano
accompanist, delighted a State Department audience with their classical selections of the Cassado Sonata in A minor by Gaspari Cassado I Moreu and Adagio and Allegro by Robert Schumann.
With extensive experience of playing with professional opera groups, choirs, musical theatre, dance schools and solo singers, he has gained a reputation as a talented
accompanist.
'Some of the people we are trying to find include musical directors Bill Cooper and John Davies, and
accompanists Justin Beynon and Marjorie Collier.
Today sees the opening round of the eighth Birmingham
Accompanist of the Year competition in the Adrian Boult Hall at Birmingham Conservatoire.
The concert series was devised by Johnson, a renowned
accompanist who is also Senior Professor of Accompaniment for the Guildhall, in order to immerse his student
accompanists into the music of Benjamin Britten, one of Britain's premier composers, who was equally notable as a pianist and
accompanist.
DANCE MOVIES such as Center Stage, The Turning Point, even The Red Shoes, always have them:
accompanists in the corner pounding away as the instructor puts her students through their paces.
Her
accompanists will be equally distinguished, comprising pianist John Donaldson, bassist Andrew Kleindert and Tristan Maillot on drums.
There is a common misconception that
accompanists are second-rate pianists who couldn't make it as soloists.
SHE'S been hailed as "the most versatile pianist of her age" and "one of the most sympathetic
accompanists".
(10) Mozart came from a musical family that understood the importance of skilled accompanying; his father's treatise on violin playing offers many valuable instructions to would-be
accompanists, including advice on pacing when dealing with rhythmically challenged soloists.
