Biography

“A fine and confident pianist, a questing mind , musical maturity, great integrity – go and listen !” – Acclaimed pianist Dame Imogen Cooper

William Bracken was born on the Wirral into a musical family and began playing the piano at the age of four. By the age of twelve he had been accepted onto the Pianoman scholarship scheme studying in London with Richard Meyrick. Two years later, in 2013, William received a scholarship from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of music to study with Jonathan Middleton at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

In 2017 he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he is currently in his final year of postgraduate studies with profs. Ronan O’Hora and Martin Roscoe. William has had the opportunity to perform to pianists such as Simon Trpceski, Paul Lewis, Richard Goode and Stephen Hough and has performed recitals and concertos in many major UK venues such as Barbican Hall, Philharmonic Hall Liverpool, LSO St. Lukes.

In 2019 made his solo radio debut in a concert of works by German composer Detlev Glanert and in May 2023 he will be giving his debut recital at the Wigmore Hall as a recipient of the Guildhall Wigmore Recital prize. In 2022 William was made a scholar of the Imogen Cooper music trust which involved participating in a week of intensive study in the south of France with renowned pianist Dame Imogen Cooper. He won a full scholarship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and Summer School in Colorado U.S.A, studying with Hung-Kuan Chen and Fabio Bidini and in November 2022 he was the unanimous winner of the Liszt Society International Piano Competition.

William performs a large and diverse range of repertoire and also has a keen interest in jazz and improvisational elements of performing classical music which he explores closely at the GSMD with leading classical improvisation pedagogue David Dolan. William is supported in his postgraduate studies by the Munster Trust and the GSMD.

Musicians’ Company Award: Silver Medal (GSMD) 2022

Page Updated: Jun 2023

Photo Credit: Francis Ware