William Bracken is in high demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician and teacher. The Wirral-born pianist has won numerous awards including 1st prize at the 2022 Liszt Society International Piano Competition, 1st prize, press prize and audience prize at the 2023 Euregio Piano Award international piano competition and 3rd prize at the 2024 UniSA international piano competition. He is currently continuing studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he also holds a position as teaching assistant in the Centre for Creative Performance and Classical Improvisation.
Concert highlights include several concerto performances at The Barbican, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, St. John’s Smith Square and recitals at Chipping Campden Festival, LSO St. Luke’s and most recently Wigmore Hall, where he was praised by the Telegraph for his “courage and stamina and musicality in abundance” and “an ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand”. William also made his New York debut at Carnegie’s Weill recital hall in January 2024.
William has worked with many of today’s leading musicians including Stephen Hough, Richard Goode, Simon Trpceski and Paul Lewis. In 2022 William was made a scholar of the Imogen Cooper music trust which involved participating in a week of intensive study in the south of France with renowned pianist Dame Imogen Cooper – that summer he also won a full scholarship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and Summer School in Colorado U.S.A, studying with Hung-Kuan Chen and Fabio Bidini.
William performs a large and diverse range of repertoire and also has a keen interest in jazz and improvisational elements of performing classical music. This interest is expressed most prominently in his role as a core member of the improvisation group Ensemble+. William is a current artist diploma student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama studying with profs. Martin Roscoe and Ronan O’Hora.
“A fine and confident pianist, a questing mind, musical maturity, great integrity – go and listen!” – Acclaimed pianist Dame Imogen Cooper
