Mark Viner is becoming increasingly well-known for his championing of unfamiliar piano works. He began playing the piano at the age of eleven and two years later was awarded a scholarship to the Purcell School of Music where he studied with Tessa Nicholson for five years.
He then won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he studied with Niel Immelman for six years. He graduated with both first class honours in a Bachelor of Music degree and the Sarah Mundlak Memorial Prize for Piano for having gained the highest mark in the year for his final recital and, following a bursary from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, a distinction in Master of Performance.
After winning First Prize at the Alkan-Zimmerman International Piano Competition in Athens in 2012, his début recital there was hailed by the press as the most important musical event of 2012. He has subsequently performed at London’s St. James’s Piccadilly, St. John’s Smith Square and Wigmore Hall, and in Oxford at the Holywell Music Room, the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building and the Sheldonian Theatre where he made his début with the Oxford Philomusica Orchestra under the baton of Marios Papadopoulos. He also performed for H.R.H. Prince Charles.
Invitations to festivals have included the Raritäten der Klaviermusik Husum and ProPiano in Hamburg, Indian Summer in Slovakia, and the Cheltenham Music Festival and Oxford Lieder Festival. Radio broadcasts have included recitals on Deutschlandfunk and interviews on BBC Radio Oxford. Aside from a busy schedule of teaching and giving concerts,
Mark is also a published writer. His advocacy of the music of Charles-Valentin Alkan has led to his election as Chairman of the Alkan Society; and his exploration of neglected piano literature has led to a commercial recording of the music of Sigismond Thalberg.
