IainBurnside

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  • Accompanist

About Iain

Thanks to prolific careers both as pianist and award-winning broadcaster, Iain is one of the UK’s best-known musicians.

Iain has worked with a broad roster of international singers: Dame Margaret Price, Rosa Feola, Ailish Tynan, Joyce DiDonato, Laurence Brownlee, Roderick Williams, and Bryn Terfel, among many others. He has recorded more than 60 CDs, often created around neglected composers, where his curatorial skills are displayed to the full. He is a great champion of young singers, playing a crucial role in introducing them to a wider audience. Recent highlights include a Rachmaninov Song Series at Wigmore Hall with outstanding Slavic singers, following his acclaimed Delphian recordings of Rachmaninov and Medtner. Other Delphian collaborations range from Schubert Lieder to songs from each of Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland.

Innovative programme planning has led Iain to expand his concert work into a hybrid form of music theatre, creating staged work around Brahms (Shining Armour), Wagner (The View from the Villa) and Gurney (A Soldier and a Maker). He has broadcast extensively on both radio and TV, notably as host of BBC R3’s acclaimed Voices series.

In addition to a long association with London’s Guildhall School, Iain is Visiting International Artist at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin. Competitions where he has served as a jury member include Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels, Busoni and Honens piano competitions and Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. He is Artistic Director of the Ludlow English Song Weekend and Artistic Consultant to Grange Park Opera, Surrey.

Listen to a selection of Iain’s collaborations here on Spotify.

Iain is based in United Kingdom

Contact

Hannah Bishay

Hannah Bishay

Associate Artist Manager

Representation

General management with Askonas Holt

Partner Manager:
Sarah Bruce (Trio Balthasar)

Follow Iain

Video

Photos

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Press

  • BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Live | James Atkinson

    Wigmore Hall, London
    Jan 2025

    • ... he’s perfectly matched by Iain Burnside’s fluent and cultured but mostly subdued piano accompaniments. Atkinson and Burnside captured those polarities beautifully, and with a restraint that characterised their approach to all four songs. As one expected, Atkinson sustained the rising phrases of the sublime Mondnacht admirably, with Burnside giving just enough weight to the counterpoint on the piano.

  • Rachmaninov Song Series

    Wigmore Hall, London
    Apr 2024 - Jun 2024

    • Iain Burnside’s “accompanying” was astonishing in that he was able to lead by basically staying in the wings. Never did he try to cast a shadow on his singers, but if one listens carefully one realizes that he is the one controlling the mood, the tone and the way to poem is realized. Yes, I say that because there was something very intellectual in the way he played, expressive and colourful as it was. He knew the structure of the music very well and was able to shape it the way he wanted to, coaxing the singer along with his deep understanding of the musical form.

  • Roderick Williams | Recital

    Wigmore Hall, London
    Dec 2023

    • Roderick Williams and his excellent pianist Iain Burnside provided a masterclass in the basics of giving a song recital.

  • An interview with Iain Burnside

    Ludlow English Song Day | Ludlow English Song Weekend
    Oct 2022

    • Raising their voices: why the English song festival is nothing about misty-eyed nostalgia An interview with Iain Burnside

  • "Winter Journey" Live Stream Recital Schubert Winterreise

    Wigmore Hall
    Jan 2021

    • Burnside’s playing was exquisite throughout, wonderfully illuminating the details of Wilhelm Müller’s poetry, from the languid drops of melted snow in "Wasserflut" to delicate lilting in ‘Irrlicht’ ("Will-o’-the-wisp") and the driven gallop of the horses in "Die Post" ("The mail coach").

  • "Duet" CD with Lucy Crowe and William Berger

    Delphian
    Feb 2016

    • But to call this CD ‘Duet’ is in one small way misleading: there are three vital artists here, not two. The third is, of course, the pianist Iain Burnside. His lightness of keyboard touch, his expertise in balancing and supporting the voices, and his sheer, audible love for this exquisite repertoire are simply matchless.

      • primephonic
      • 12 May 2016

  • "Musica e Poesia" CD with Rosa Feola

    Opus Arte
    Dec 2015

    • Pianist Iain Burnside is supportive and vivid throughout, especially when suggesting the flitting woodland spirits in Respighi’s Deità silvane.

    • Iain Burnside ripples with cool precision through accompaniments that might have been drawn from Debussy’s Préludes and Feola matches him in the gentle, flickering lights in her voice.

Discography