Duncan Honeybourne

Duncan Honeybourne enjoys a colourful and diverse career as a pianist and in music education. Commended by International Piano magazine for his “glittering performances” and Musical Opinion for his “great technical facility and unfailing imagination”, he is best known for his interpretations of 20th and 21st century British piano music.

Following concerto debuts in 1998 at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and the National Concert Hall, Dublin, he made recital debuts in London, Dublin, Paris, and at international festivals in Belgium and Switzerland. His 2012 debut recital disc was described by Gramophone magazine as “not to be missed by all lovers of English music”, whilst BBC Music Magazine reported: “There are gorgeous things here. Hard to imagine better performances.”

Honeybourne has toured extensively in the UK, Ireland and Europe as solo and lecture recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician, appearing at many major venues and leading festivals. His solo performances have been frequently broadcast on BBC Radio and TV and more than 20 radio networks worldwide. Duncan’s engagements for regional music societies and arts centres across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland have included hundreds of solo recitals as well as partnerships with renowned artists and ensembles. Many appearances on BBC Radio 3 have included the complete solo piano music of Ruth Gipps across a week of programmes for the composer’s centenary, and several first broadcasts of contemporary piano works.

Premieres of over 70 solo works written for him have included John Joubert’s Third Piano Sonata, John Casken’s Tempus Plangendi, Cecilia McDowall’s Notes from Abroad, three piano cycles by Sadie Harrison, Adam Gorb’s After the Darkness, Peter Reynolds’ last piano piece, Penllyn, for Late Music York, and the Andrew Downes Piano Concerto at Birmingham Town Hall. He has also revived many forgotten scores by composers of earlier generations, and was invited by the BBC to give the world premiere of two rediscovered piano preludes by English romantic composer Susan Spain-Dunk in a recital broadcast live on Radio 3 from St. David’s Hall, Cardiff.

Honeybourne’s discography includes contemporary works dedicated to him by celebrated composers as well as complete recorded cycles of the solo piano music of Moeran and Joubert (featuring the composer’s early Rhapsody Evocations which Duncan revived from the manuscript), plus premiere recordings of piano works by Bainton, Gurney, Armstrong Gibbs and Walford Davies. Duncan’s solo discs have been awarded 5 stars in Musical Opinion and International Piano, and featured as MusicWeb International Recording of the Year, CD of the Week on FMR Radio in South Africa and Recommended CD on Austrian Radio. Contemporary Piano Soundbites, his album of new piano miniatures commissioned from established and emerging composers during the 2020 UK lockdown was described by Tom Service on BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show as “a dazzling explosion of creativity.”

Born in Dorset in 1977, Duncan gave his first London recital at 15 and his first BBC broadcast recital at 17. He was a prizewinner at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where he graduated with First Class Honours and later received the honorary award of HonRBC for professional distinction. His teachers included Rosemarie Wright, Philip Martin, John York and Dame Fanny Waterman, and he completed his studies in London for three years with Mikhail Kazakevich on a Goldenweiser Scholarship from the Sheepdrove Trust. Duncan Honeybourne is a Piano Tutor at the University of Southampton and Sherborne School, and Founder/Artistic Director of the Weymouth Lunchtime Chamber Concerts, which celebrated their 20th birthday in 2022.