Gerald Kingsley
As a young pianist, Gerald Kingsley studied with the great Edwin Fischer at the Lucerne Conservatory. In 1950, he met Nikolai Medtner, forging a lasting friendship with the composer and his wife. He was a Director of the music publishing firm Josef Weinberger, and headed their Repertoire Promotion Department with particular emphasis on orchestral performances and the licensing of musicals in the Scandinavian countries and Holland. He was Artistic Advisor to Ivy House Music and Dance in Hampstead. Among the many musicians who appeared there, including Dame Janet Baker, Sir Antonio Pappano and Maxim Vengerov, he interviewed Sir Stephen Hough, Steven Isserlis and Sir Andras Schiff. His hobbies include researching great musicians of the past while drinking copious quantities of Lapsang Souchong. This evening promises to be one of judicious balance between great names of the past and the present.