Warren’s Music Story
Warren started playing the piano at age 5 and was lucky to have a great teacher from an early age. By the age of 12 he started attending the Junior Royal College of Music department on Saturdays. Piano was very much a passionate interest and something he enjoyed doing.
Warren is a great example of a talented musician who did not immediately follow a musical career path. From school he went to Warwick University to study law but continued to play piano. He had piano lessons at University and got incredibly involved in the musical societies and performing. He began to prioritise his piano practice over lectures in law, so much so that a lecturer once asked who he was and what was he doing in the law lecture when he made a brief appearance!
One of his very memorable performances at university was in his second year when he performed the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto. Performing this really inspired him to pursue a career in music but he continued to finish his law degree. Warren reflects that the degree in law has helped him in his piano career with some of the more transferable skills he learnt and with the other elements of being a performing musician. He made it possible to do a law degree and then a career in music, but only through a huge amount of hard work and dedication.
After law, Warren did a year at the Birmingham Conservatory before going to do a postgraduate degree at the Royal College of Music. The transition to music colleges was a quite a change; suddenly he was able to play all day rather than juggle this with his other work. He won numerous postgraduate prizes while at the Royal College, including a Countess of Munster Award and the French Piano Music Prize. He then took further private studies with Peter Feuchtwanger and the late Ronald Smith.
Determined, having made the switch from law to music, to make a living from playing the piano, Warren grasped every available opportunity and initially always ensured he had a high-profile concert in the diary to work towards. He has since given acclaimed solo recitals at The Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall and has performed over 30 piano concertos. He has made several recordings which have been featured on Classic FM and the BBC.
In 2016 he became the first British pianist to perform Chopin’s complete works for solo piano from memory in a series of 11 recitals, which really launched his career. From then he set up his own company, City Music Promotions, which arranges over 100 concerts a year. He also set up the Piccadilly Sinfonetta which is a chamber orchestra based in London. More recently he launched www.citymusiclive.co.uk which offers online performances.
In terms of teaching Warren has taught at the Royal College of Music Junior Departments and tutors on several residential courses including Pro Corda, Piano Week, Pianissimi and at Finchcocks. He mainly now runs masterclasses and residential courses rather than individual lessons.