St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye HR3 5EB. Doors open at 2.30pm. Refreshments.

Tickets: tba

Programme

William Bracken (England) plays ‘Preludes’ …

Franz Liszt:  Transcendental Etude No. 1:  Prelude

Olivier Messiaen:  Cloches d'angoisse et larmes d'adieu

Sergei Rachmaninoff:  Prelude Op. 34 No. 4 in E minor

Olivier Messiaen:  La colombe

Frédéric Chopin:  Prelude Op. 28 No. 17 in Ab

Olivier Messiaen:  Le nombre leger

Ruth Crawford Seeger:  Prelude No. 4

Olivier Messiaen:  Instants defunts

Johann Sebastian Bach:  Prelude in F# minor from WTK II

Olivier Messiaen:  Un reflet dans le vent

Claude Debussy:  Des pas sur le neige

Olivier Messiaen:  Plaint calme 

Frédéric Chopin:  Prelude Op. 28 No. 16 in Bb minor 

George Gershwin:  Prelude No. 1 Allegro ben ritmato e deciso

Misha Kaploukhii (Russia) plays …

Michael Tippett:  Piano Sonata Number 1

Sergei Rachmaninoff:  Selection from Études-Tableaux, Op. 39

William Bracken's creative voice stems from a deep fluency with the language of music itself, dissolving musical boundaries through improvisational state of mind, curiosity and acute contextual awareness. A visionary musician with a vast repertoire of classical masterworks, contemporary works and equally at home in jazz and improvised music, the Wirral-born pianist has won numerous awards including First Prize at the 2022 Liszt Society International Piano Competition, First Prize, Press Prize and Audience Prize at the 2023 Euregio Piano Award international piano competition, Second Prize at the 2023 Livorno international piano competition, Third Prize at the 2024 UniSA international piano competition. He currently holds a position as a member of teaching staff in the Centre for Creative Performance and Classical Improvisation at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Concert highlights include concerto performances at The Barbican, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, St John’s Smith Square and recitals at Carnegie's Weill Hall in New York, Chipping Campden Festival, LSO St Luke’s and Wigmore Hall, where he was praised by the Telegraph for his “courage and stamina and musicality in abundance” and “an ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand”. He is also active as a core member of the improvisation group Ensemble+ and bandleader of the Will Bracken Trio.

William has collaborated with conductors such as Nicholas Collon (Aurora Orchestra) and Domingo Hindoyan (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic) and his chamber partners have included Michael Barenboim, Angela Hewitt and Jonathan Aasgard. During his studies in London William was made a scholar of the Imogen Cooper Music Trust which involved participating in a week of intensive study in the south of France with renowned pianist Dame Imogen Cooper. He also won a full scholarship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and Summer School in Colorado U.S.A in 2022, studying with Hung-Kuan Chen and Fabio Bidini.

Misha Kaploukhii is a graduate of the Moscow Gnessin College of Music, where he studied under Mikhail Egiazaryan. He has completed his undergraduate studies at the Royal College of Music and is now pursuing a Master of Performance under the guidance of Professor Ian Jones.

Misha’s studies are supported by many awards. He is honoured to be one of the recipients of the LSO Conservatoire Scholarships 2024/26 and is a Musicians’ Company Lambert Scholar, supported by the Maureen and Harold Adams Scholarship. Misha has also been awarded Hattori Foundation Senior Award 2025/26, an ABRSM Scholarship and grants from the Drake Calleja Trust and Eileen Rowe Musical Trust. His career is supported with the help of Keyboard Charitable Trust, the Razumovsky Trust, the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation and Talent Unlimited. Besides appearances in Italy and France, his performances with orchestras in the UK include debuts in Cadogan Hall playing Rachmaninov’s 1st Concerto with YMSO and James Blair, Liszt’s 2nd Concerto with RCM Symphony orchestra with Adrian Partington and, recently, Rachmaninov’s 4th Concerto performed with the Albion Orchestra.

This concert is dedicated to the memory of David Lipsey

and made possible by the generous support of

Philip Hughes

David and Margaret Lipsey

Judith Serota