Pianist Eleanor Hodgkinson divides her time between performing, teaching and writing. Recitals have taken her throughout the UK and abroad as both a soloist and collaborative pianist. In 2020 Volume 1 of the Complete Piano Works of Nino Rota was released on the Naxos Grand Piano Label and Volume 2 will be released in 2025.
“Ms Hodgkinson plays all beautifully, with a solid warm tone the draws the listener into the music. The sound is exceptional. I enjoyed this” - American Record Guide, 2020
A versatile performer, she has been part of numerous cross-genre projects, having performed and recorded with Mid-Wales Opera, Southern Sinfonia, Orchestra of the Swan and Nevill Holt Opera; this includes commissions, broadcasts on BBC Radio, recordings for Somm Records and outreach work. She has a long-standing duo with cellist Nick Stringfellow and is one half of the recently launched Leeds Piano Duo with Jakob Fichert.
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As a writer she has devised many education projects and in 2014 founded BabyGigs CIC which presents musical events for under 7s and their families. The company is frequently commissioned for community work and their musical story shows have featured in many UK festivals. Eleanor works as a freelance workshop leader, most recently for Culture Leicestershire and Groundworks Northamptonshire.
Eleanor is the Keyboard Coordinator at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music where she has taught piano and chamber music for over 20 years. She is a Principal Lecturer in Piano at Leeds Conservatoire and an external examiner at Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal College of Music. She is the specialist piano tutor on the LRAM teaching course and a trainer and examiner for the ABRSM. Eleanor is regularly invited to give masterclasses and adjudicate competitions in conservatoires and schools.
An award-winning student, Eleanor studied piano with Renna Kellaway and Carole Presland at the Royal Northern College of Music. She took up a scholarship in piano accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music with Malcolm Martineau, with further study at IMS Prussia Cove and with her piano trio at Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada. In 2013 Eleanor obtained an MA in Music Psychology from the University of Sheffield. Her dissertation was awarded a distinction and formed the basis of a chapter in ‘New Thoughts on Piano Performance’ published by LIPS.
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