FOR the last recital of the 2019-20 season, the Piano Society welcomes Leon McCawley, one of Britain’s foremost pianists.

The concert takes place in the Central Hall, at The Dolphin Centre, Darlington, on Sunday, March 24, at 3pm.

He has forged a highly successful career since winning first prize in the 1993 International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna and second prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition, building on his earlier success as winner of the Piano Section of BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1990.

Since then, his concerto and recital performances at many prestigious concert venues, including the London Piano Series at Wigmore Hall (where he will return in 2019) and the International Piano Series at London’s Southbank Centre, has established him as a pianist of great integrity and variety, bringing freshness and vitality to classical, romantic and 20th century repertoire. McCawley studied at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester before continuing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia.

His programme is one of early and late works. The first half featuring the first sonata by Mozart and the last by Beethoven, and the second half, late works by Brahms and Chopin and early works by Schumann and Hans Gal – the latter being a somewhat neglected figure whose music is currently receiving a much warranted revival in interest, led in part by Leon McCawley, who has recorded the complete solo piano works.

The complete programme is: Mozart Sonata No 1 in C major K279; Beethoven Sonata No 32 in C minor Op. 111; Schumann ‘Abegg’ Variations Op. 1; Hans Gál Three Sketches Op. 7; Brahms Klavierstücke Op. 119; and Chopin Polonaise – Fantasie Op. 61.

The Society’s programme for the 2019-20 season, starting on Sunday, October 20, will be published soon and promises to be another series of six recitals not to be missed.