"A most gifted pianist" (Musical Opinion, Proms edition 2011)
Christine Croshaw has enjoyed a long and successful career as a solo pianist, accompanist and chamber music player.
She began playing the piano at the age of four, subsequently studying with the famous teacher Harold Craxton, before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music to study with Vivian Langrish and Gordon Green. She won most of the major prizes for solo piano, ensemble playing and accompaniment, including the Elena Gerhardt Lieder Prize (awarded by the legendary accompanist Gerald Moore) and the Chappell Gold Medal.
Her concert engagements have taken her to most major venues around the UK, including many appearances at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room.
She has performed across the Continent in France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Malta, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Poland and Switzerland, and also in North America. Festival appearances include Cheltenham, Lichfield, Kensington and Chelsea, Ludlow, Chichester, Lisbon, Bermuda and Taormina.
Christine has been privileged to work with many distinguished artists, most notably the legendary violinist, Nathan Milstein, cellist Antonio Janigro, violinists Gyorgy Pauk and Alexander Balanescu, French Horn player Alan Civil and many of the world’s leading flautists including Peter-Lukas Graf, Michel Debost, Robert Winn and Jaques Zoon, as well as many solo principals from the major orchestras across Europe and North America.
Chamber ensembles she has played with include the Hanson Quartet, Roth Quartet, Pro Arte Piano Quartet, London Saxophone Quartet and the Nash Ensemble.
In 1978, together with the mezzo-soprano Meriel Dickinson and saxophonist / clarinettist Christopher Gradwell, she formed the group ‘Music Deco’ which enjoyed great success performing the music of the 1920’s and 1930’s. Their concerts included appearances at the Festival of Great Irish Houses, Cheltenham Festival, Stirling Festival, and the Wigmore Hall New Year Celebrations.
Christine was one of the founder pianists of the International Musicians’ Seminar at Prussia Cove in Cornwall, and was, from the mid-1970’s to the mid-1980’s, pianist for the Kathleen Ferrier Singing Competition at the Wigmore Hall. Christine has been Professor of Piano, Chamber Music and Accompaniment at Trinity College of Music (London) for many years, having taught previously at the Royal Academy of Music. She has served regularly on the faculties of many Summer Schools, including the International Gulbenkian Festival in Portugal, the Oxford Flute Summer School, the Oxford Chamber Music Summer School, and the Flute and Piano Summer School at Chateau Ratilly, France.
In recent years, Christine has been compiling and performing in anthology programmes and revues with some of the country’s leading actors, including Edward Fox, Prunella Scales, Hannah Gordon, Sir Derek Jacobi and Charles Dance. Christine has appeared frequently on television and in John Boorman’s film ‘Hope and Glory’.
Recordings have featured albums for the American label Golden Crest with the American flautist Mark Thomas which have just been re-issued; and a series of CDs for Meridian Records which are frequently heard on BBC Radio3 and Classic FM. This has recently been described in Musical Opinion as a “remarkable series of chamber music discs”.
These feature solo piano and chamber music of the early 19th century with artisits including the clarinettist David Campbell, flautist Clive Conway, French horn player Stephen Stirling, violist Norbert Blume, and cellists Charles Tunnell and Christina Shillito.
A CD of music by Saint-Saëns has recently been released: “This is a disc I wholeheartedly recommend, Christine Croshaw's playing is almost of another age, belonging to a musical mind with a real sense of direction and purpose, yet executed in a manner most fluid and colourful, often flamboyant and at times incredibly beautiful.” (Musical Pointers)
Christine's performing career is now focussed mainly in solo piano recitals. In a recent concert at the Louise Blouin Foundation in London, one reviewer wrote of "the glowing colours of her playing. She made the space vibrate with magic."
A recital in the Holywell Room, Oxford, received an ecstatic review in the Piano Journal, in which she was again praised for the colours and fluidity of her playing. "The recital made such an impact on me. It was stunning."
Christine is known for her imaginative and wide-ranging repertoire. While Mozart, Schubert and Chopin are special favourites, she also has a particular affinity with French and Spanish music. Christine worked with the celebrated Spanish dancer, Tani Morena for many years, playing the works of Albeniz, Granados, de Falla and Turina as well as the 18th century masters, notaby Soler. She has received great acclaim for her performances of the French repertoire, in particular the music of Saint-Saëns and Fauré.
On a lighter note, Christine has a great affection for the music of the 1920's and 1930's, often featuring in her recitals, music by composers of this period, including Satie, Poulenc, Milhaud, George Gershwin, Zez Confrey and Billy Mayerl.
For gaining distinction in the profession, Christine has been elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and an Honorary fellow of Trinity College of Music.
In 2014 Christine was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by 'Music Teacher' magazine, sponsored by Rhinegold Publishing and Classic FM, for her 'seminal contribution to music education' at a ceremony held at London's Barbican Centre.