RACHMANINOFF SOCIETY MEMBERS WEEKEND 2008
Guest performers' biographies
Carson studied Piano with Ilana Davids and Composition with Jonathan Cole at the Purcell School of Music in London, England. In April 2006, he won 1st prize at the S.V. Rachmaninov International Piano Competition in Novgorod, Russia and a Special Russian Ministry of Culture Awar - Best performance of the required piece, M. Pletnev's Variations on a theme of Rachmaninov.
In June 2006, Carson gave a recital at the Canadian Embassy in Dublin, Ireland, commissioned by Deirdre Doyle, Head of Keyboards at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and Mark Moher, Canadian Ambassador to Ireland at the time. He was also a participant in the Dublin Master Classes Festival (worked with Jeno Jando), and a Finalist at the 2006 Oberlin International Piano competition.
In September 2006, he gave a recital at the Wigmore Hall in London and in March 2007 gave a performance of Schumann's "Faschingsschwank Aus Wien" at the Leeds Lunchtime Concerts series in Leeds, England as well as a performance of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto in London, England, with the Barnet Symphony Orchestra.
Carson is also a composer. The Premiere of his orchestral composition "Three Orchestral Nocturnes" was given by the Purcell School Symphony Orchestra at LSO St. Lukes Hall in London and he also won in June 2007 1st Prize, BBC Young Composers competition for Orchestral Composition with the same work, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Carson participated in the 2007 Verbier Festival and Academy, Switzerland. He took part in masterclasses with Claude Frank, Emil Naoumoff, Gabor Tackacs-Nagy, and Yuri Bashmet, and gave chamber and solo performances in the Festival.
In September 2008, he began studying at the Royal Academy of Music with Tanya Sarkissova, having been awarded a BBC Fame Academy Bursary.
Ian Flint was a semi-finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 1979, in a recital programme including the Rachmaninoff Prelude in Bb Major. He went on to study piano at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with Sulamita Aronovsky, who in turn had been a student of Rachmaninoff's friend, Alexander Goldenweiser. During his student years, Ian was a regular recitalist and concerto soloist, mainly around the north of England. Rachmaninoff's music, notably the Second Sonata, continued to feature prominently in his repertoire. Meanwhile, Ian's MusM thesis presented a re-evaluation of the First and Fourth Concertos, works which even today seem bafflingly under-rated.
Despite the rewards of the music itself, many aspects of the concert pianist's life did not appeal to Ian, so he opted instead for a career in the commercial sector. He is currently Sales Director of the music publishers, Peters Edition. Other commitments have for long periods restricted the time Ian has been able to devote to music, but recently there has been some opportunity to reconnect with the piano again. He particularly enjoys exploring the relationship between the harmonic language of twentieth-century classical music and jazz. Although Ian's musical interests are wide-ranging, nothing has ever been closer to his heart than Rachmaninoff.