AWARD winning pianist Matthew Drinkwater is to launch the 2017 concert season for the distinguished Westcountry arts charity Concerts in the West with three performances at Westcountry venues including Lower Pulworthy Farm, Highampton on Thursday, February 2.

Winner of the Chappell Medal — the Royal College of Music’s most sought after prize for piano — as well as numerous other top class musical awards, Matthew is a passionate supporter of 18th and 19th century music for piano, especially the works of Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert and Brahms. 

He has also explored the contemporary music scene and between 2007 and 2008 was a member of Cardiff’s Millennium Ensemble, where he played works by Thomas Adès and Michael Berkeley.

Matthew is a keen chamber musician and as a member of the Poznansky Trio he performs with cellists Sebastian Poznansky and Willemijn Knödler and violinist Julia Loucks. He recently performed Brahms and Ravel with violinist Jonathan Davies.

Matthew has played at many of the top classical music venues, including St Martin in the Fields, St Barnabas, St John Smith’s Square, St Peters in Belsize Park, St Lukes in Hampstead, as well as festivals and at the University of Valladolid Opera School in Spain, where he works as a repetiteur.

His work also includes broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and ITV television.

Commenting on Matthew’s forthcoming performance, Concerts in the West’s founder and director Catherine Maddocks said: ‘I am delighted to be welcoming Matthew Drinkwater to launch the new 2017 Concerts in the West season. This is our 12th concert tour series and I am extremely proud that we are going just as strong as when we first started.

‘It gives me enormous pleasure to continue to introduce local audiences to young musicians of the calibre of Matthew. Our performers offer an opportunity for people in the Westcountry to sample the sort of music you would normally only be able to hear at venues such as the Wigmore Hall.’