MARGARET FINGERHUT recital

Event Information

Born in London of Ukrainian and Polish heritage, Margaret Fingerhut has a distinguished career which has taken her all over the world. She is particularly known for her innovative recital programmes in which she explores the highways and byways of the piano repertoire. As a concerto soloist she has appeared with all of the UK’s major orchestras in venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican. She is often heard on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM and many radio stations worldwide.

Her acclaimed and extensive discography reflects her long-standing fascination with exploring lesser-known repertoire, including works by Bax, Berkeley, Bloch, Dukas, Falla, Finzi, Grieg, Howells, Leighton, Novák, Stanford and Suk as well as several pioneering collections of Russian and French piano music. Two of her Bax recordings were short-listed for Gramophone awards, and her disc of solo piano music by Tansman was awarded the “Diapason D’Or” in France. Her CD of encores "Endless Song" was Featured Album of the Week on Classic FM and was selected as “Editor's Choice” in Pianist. She made the first recording of a rediscovered student piece by Rachmaninoff as well as two solo piano pieces by Taneyev. Other notable premiere recordings include Elgar’s sketches for his Piano Concerto Slow Movement and Bainton’s Concerto Fantasia.

Recently Margaret has become increasingly involved in using the power of music to raise money for charitable causes. In 2019 she undertook a major recital tour, devising and performing a special programme of words and music called Far from the Home I Love across the UK to raise money for refugees and asylum seekers. In 2022 she collaborated with a young Ukrainian filmmaker to produce a powerful video which raised money for emergency vehicles in Ukraine. Margaret was awarded an MBE in the 2024 New Year Honours in recognition of her services to music and charitable fundraising.

For us Margaret will play:
Chopin—Three Mazurkas Op.59
Chopin—Barcarolle Op.60
Alexander Tansman—Five Mazurkas  
Chopin—Ballade No.1 in G minor Op.23
Vasyl Barvinsky—Two Preludes 
Sergei Bortkiewicz— Les Rochers d’Outche-Coche
Viktor Kosenko—Nocturne-Fantasie Op.4 
Boris Lyatoshinsky—Two Preludes on Ukrainian Folk Songs
Mykola Lysenko—‘Dumka-Shumka’ - Rhapsody No.2 on Ukrainian Themes

Our piano, a fine 2015 Hamburg Steinway model B grand, is maintained by Steinways and tuned by them immediately before each recital.

After the concert we offer a buffet tea of freshly-made sandwiches with savouries, cakes and chocolate biscuits plus a glass of wine or unlimited tea, coffee or juice. The artist attends the buffet and you can meet them. Tea tickets are sold on the door for cash or cheque at £10 (standard) or £5 (students with ID). We can cater for up to 70.