Michael Davies

Welsh pianist Michael Davies showed an early interest in music and started taking piano lessons at the age of 10. In September 2005 he was offered an entrance award and the Percy Heywood scholarship to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with leading pianist Norma Fisher, with additional lessons from visiting tutors Alexander Melnikov, Nelson Goerner and Michel Beroff. Michael received a BMus degree with first class honours in 2009 and completed the Masters course in 2011 with support from the Fenton Arts Trust Bursary.

While studying at the RNCM, Michael won awards from the John Fussell Trust and the Ian Fleming Charitable Trust, and achieved success in several national competitions. In 2006 he won the prestigious ‘Blue Riband’, the highest prize for solo performance in the National Eisteddfod of Wales with a performance broadcast on S4C and ITV Wales. He has also been a finalist and prize winner in the Moray International Piano Competitions 2006 and 2007, and the Jaques Samuel Intercollegiate Piano Competition 2009.

As a soloist, Michael has given lunchtime concerts and evening recitals across the UK, the Isle of Man and in Germany, and has performed at venues including St. James’s Piccadilly in London, the Wales Millennium Centre and the House of Commons. In July 2010, he appeared as soloist in Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto and in March 2012 performed the Grieg concerto with Sheffield Youth Orchestra, conducted by Steven Vickers.

Also an active chamber musician, Michael frequently partners some of the RNCM’s finest prize-winning graduates in duo performances across the country, and has appeared at major UK venues including the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and the Wigmore Hall, London. In March 2011 he joined the BBC Singers in a performance for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and he is also a member of the ACM ensemble dedicated to performing contemporary music and premiering works by living composers.

Michael is currently a freelance musician and teacher based in Manchester.