About Mark
Mark grew up in Brisbane and remembers vividly his very first concert experience – Led Zeppelin performing live at Brisbane’s Festival Hall.
That same year, thanks to the eminent musician Robert Boughen’s encouragement and recommendation, Mark was awarded a scholarship to the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. Mark’s only experience of classical music at this point was his piano lessons.
When he enrolled at the Conservatorium, he didn’t know what a cello or viola were, and he had never heard anybody other than himself play the piano. He enrolled to study as a classroom music teacher. After the first year, the Director suggested he change to the Performer’s course, which he did, and the rest is history.
In his final year at the Conservatorium, Mark was awarded a scholarship, which took him to the Royal College of Music in London where he studied piano with Peter Wallfisch and harpsichord with Ruth Dyson. During his 34 years abroad, Mark lived firstly in London, then spent a year in Canada, before settling in Oxford. Prior to returning to Australia in 2012, Mark taught piano at Oxford University for six years and ran a very successful series of educational children’s concerts, which introduced young children to musical instruments and music. Whilst there, he also established the ‘Concertiade’ series of concerts, which still run today.
Mark was invited to spend a year at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada, along with some of the world’s most experienced teachers and talented young performers. Mark has worked closely with world class musicians such as Jacqueline de Pre, Mitsuko Uchida, Charles Rosen, Peter Maxwell Davies, Andre Tchaikovsky and Kenneth Gilbert. He has also performed in concert with Yehudi Menuhin, Peter Wallfisch, Tamas Vasary and Zara Nelsova. He performed Steve Reich’s work for six pianos in Banff, coached by Steve Reich himself, and had the joy of playing piano duets with Mitsuko Uchida in her home in London, and being Tamas Vasary’s rehearsal pianist for concertos. His teachers, Leah Horowitz, Peter Wallfisch, Ruth Dyson and Bernice Lehman, all played crucial roles in encouraging Mark in his career and fostering his deep job of playing piano. Many deep and lasting friendships have ensued.
Mark’s debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall in 1985 preceded numerous solo recitals at such venues as London’s Purcell Room, and Oxford’s famous Holywell Music Room and the Jacqueline de Pre Music Building. For many years, he performed annually in Berlin and Potsdam, and at the Musikhalle in Hamburg. Mark has performed concertos by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Saint Saens, and the complete voilin sonatas of Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms.
Mark returned to live in Brisbane in 2012. It was the lifestyle and the constant, daily reminder of the power and beauty of his home country which drew him back, alongside the chance to spend the last years of his mother’s life with her. Mark regularly returns to Oxford to perform in the ‘Concertiade’ series he established here, and to spend time with his UK friends.
He established a ‘Concertiade’ series in Brisbane in 2013 at ‘The Chambers’ at Somerville House, which was the home of the Conservatorium of Music where Mark first studied. In 2018 he established the Soiree Series of lectures / rehearsals in private homes in Brisbane.
As well as his work as a classical pianist, Mark trained as a psychotherapist in London, and went onto establish and coordinate the Oxford Men’s Counselling Services, which continues to offer low-cost therapy to men.
Upon returning to Australia, Mark ceased his work as a therapist to concentrate solely on what he loves most – playing the piano and teaching others.
Mark returned to live in Brisbane in 2012. It was the lifestyle and the constant, daily reminder of the power and beauty of his home country which drew him back, alongside the chance to spend the last years of his mother’s life with her. Mark regularly returns to Oxford to perform in the ‘Concertiade’ series he established here, and to spend time with his UK friends.
He established a ‘Concertiade’ series in Brisbane in 2013 at ‘The Chambers’ at Somerville House, which was the home of the Conservatorium of Music where Mark first studied. In 2018 he established the Soiree Series of lectures / rehearsals in private homes in Brisbane.
As well as his work as a classical pianist, Mark trained as a psychotherapist in London, and went onto establish and coordinate the Oxford Men’s Counselling Services, which continues to offer low-cost therapy to men.
Upon returning to Australia, Mark ceased his work as a therapist to concentrate solely on what he loves most – playing the piano and teaching others.