Mourning for a British pianist, 72
RIPThe widely respected pianist Andrew Ball has died of the effects of Parkinsons Disease at the age of 72.
He was Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music, London, from 1999 to 2005 and a sught-after international performer.
Having studied Michael Tippett’s sonatas with the composer, he was their most authoritative interpreter.
Extremely sad news. Andrew was an incredibly thoughtful, intelligent and caring man, but when faced with a challenging piece (as he very often was) could turn into a somebody quite wild and unleashed almost as if at the flick of a switch. I saw it happen often. Exciting player and a rare performer!
That’s a wonderful vignette Simon. I saw Andrew years ago playing in the pit for the Siobhan Davies dance company. The memory I have is of watching him riveted to Rzewski, like someone possessed.
Andrew was my piano professor at the RCM, and the most astonishingly intelligent man. I am so very sad at this loss.