Playing with Fire

 Nigel Clayton studied with Stephen Savage and Angus Morrison at the Royal College of Music London, where he won prizes in every category of piano performance and was awarded the College’s yearly prize for his Bachelor of Music Degree. Whilst there, a particular interest in chamber music and accompanying developed and was further encouraged by international prizes from competitions in London, New York (Concert Artist Guild) and from the English Speaking Union. Since then his worldwide travel has included four major tours of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan with Indian cellist Anup Kumar Biswas, tours of the Middle East and America with Wissam Boustany, of Scandinavia with Gerard LeFeuvre and several throughout Europe; he has also appeared at most of the music clubs and festivals in the UK, at the BBC’s radio network, the Wigmore hall, the South Bank Centre, as well as longstanding partnerships with Gina McCormack, Michael Cox, the Bingham Quartets among others.  He has performed many times in Japan and since 2013 has made regular recital and lecture tours of Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Nigel has been a piano professor and Art of Teaching lecturer at the Royal College of Music for 25 years, and for his services in the musical world Nigel was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Music (FRCM) presented by HRH Prince of Wales in 2017. (www.nigelclayton.com)

Imma Setiadi was born in Surabaya, Indonesia where she started her early training. She then received her BMus degree from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (Singapore) with Albert Tiu, her MMus (distinction) where she studied with Nigel Clayton at the Royal College of Music London, and her Doctoral degree from the RCM, with Nigel Clayton and Amanda Glauert. She is truly  grateful for the support of RCM Study Award, Indonesian Beasiswa Unggulan, the Seary Charitable Trust, Talent Unlimited Charity, anonymous, and PAL charity.

Since coming to the UK, Imma has performed widely as a soloist and chamber musician. Her appearances include major venues such as the Bridgewater Hall (Manchester), the Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Steinway Hall, Blackheath Halls, and the National Gallery. As orchestral pianist she has performed at the BBC Proms, the Royal Festival Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall. She has been recognised with prizes at the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe’s Concerto Competition and the Royal College of Music’s Beethoven and Piano Chamber Music Competitions. She has been an artist for the Park Lane Group, the Manchester Mid-Day Concerts Society, and the Leeds Lieder Festival. She has held Junior Fellowships in Piano Accompaniment at both the Royal College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

A dedicated teacher, Imma currently is a lecturer on the Academic Programme Department at the RCM alongside her extensive work as a collaborative pianist. She also holds teaching posts at Junior Trinity Laban, Whitgift School, and is a visiting fellow at the Loughborough School Music. She is the founder of the Musical Rainbow Project (MRP), a project to bring hope through creatively devised music programme, which was chosen as one of the recipients for the Royal Philharmonic Society Enterprise Fund, in association with the Harriet’s Trust, as well as the RCM Participatory Research grant. (www.immasetiadi.com)

For Nigel and Imma, bringing Classical Music to a wider audience in an engaging way has always been at the heart of their work together. Recently they have been touring the complete ‘Planets’ by Holst in his anniversary year across the country and abroad. They have also been engaged in a number of cross-arts projects, one of the most significant of these has been Debussy’s La Mer, working with visual art and dancers at the Turner Contemporary Gallery, for Trinity Laban Arts Festival and the Deal Festival. Together they have performed recitals at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, St John’s Smith Square in London, Cowdray Hall in Scotland, and in various music clubs and festivals across the UK. They have also collaborated with the Joyful Company of Singers on Brahms projects, with the Musical Rainbow Ensemble for a programme based on Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Happy Prince’ and for ‘Music of The Spheres: The Planets Reimagined’ – a spectacle based on a performance of Holst’s masterpiece. They have also enjoyed supporting charities such as ‘Everyone Matters’ (performances in care homes, hospitals, and special needs schools), ‘the Hunger Project’ and ‘Aid to the Church in Need’. Extremely keen to expand repertoire for piano duet, they have commissioned and premiered pieces by Philip Wilby, Paul Robinson, Jean-Francois Michel, and in conjunction with Celebrating Australian Music, premiered a suite by Wendy Hiscocks. Both share a love of teaching and have designed several courses/workshops in piano duet, chamber music, solo piano and Art of Teaching for aspiring musicians.