DAVID NETTLE  &  RICHARD MARKHAM  now well into their fourth decade as Britain's foremost Piano Duo, continue to be one of the most satisfying and entertaining partnerships before the public today.  Their vitality, infectious enthusiasm, remarkable ensemble and intense musical integrity ensure their popularity throughout the musical world.

Within four years of their initial collaboration their success had taken them to as many continents and they have played throughout the UK,  Europe and America as well as fifteen Far and Middle Eastern countries (under the auspices of the British Council) and in Japan and Australia.  Concert, festival, radio  and TV appearances are the core of their performance schedule today and, to date, they have performed in 35 countries. They are regular participants in major international festivals including Bath, Henley, Harrogate, Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein and the BBC Proms. Nettle & Markham's varied recital and concerto performances encompass not only the standard repertoire but also many unfamiliar or neglected compositions, works written especially for them and their own unique two-piano arrangements.

Their highly original London début was an "all-Grainger" centenary recital and they have programmed similar anniversary tributes to Stravinsky and Saint-Saëns.  In 1985 they gave the UK première of the re-discovered Max Bruch Concerto (with Sir Charles Groves and the Hallé) and they were the first duo to give concert performances of The Planets in Holst's own two-piano version; their recording of this 'tour de force' won an MRA Award for Excellence in 1985.

Their highly praised recordings reflect the wide range of styles which they are known  to be able to assimilate effortlessly, from Stravinsky's duet versions of Petrushka and The Rite of Spring, through Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals and Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle to "South of the Border" with soprano Jill Gomez or Sir Malcolm Arnold's Piano Duet and  Two-Piano Concertos (with the RPO). 

 

"Nettle & Markham in England"  was the first in a series of recital CDs, designed as a showcase for their two-piano virtuosity as both performers and arrangers. "Nettle & Markham in America" includes their large-scale transcription "Scenes from West Side Story" which formed part of Leonard Bernstein's 70th birthday celebrations and brought them into contact with the composer in the last years of his life.  The latest in the series, "Nettle & Markham in France", contains 28 tracks of the very best in French four-hand piano music.  "The Complete Two-Piano Works of Brahms" appeared in 2007 and 2009 saw the re-release of Holst's The Planets and Stravinsky's Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. Their acclaimed recording of Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle (with Simon Halsey and the CBSO Chorus) was re-released in 2010.

Nettle & Markham perform regularly in the main concert halls of Europe, including the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican Hall in London, the Dvorak Hall in Prague, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Singer-Polignac Foundation in Paris and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Merkin Hall in New York, Elder Park in Adelaide, Victoria Hall in Singapore, Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo and the City Halls of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Hong Kong, with major orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony and the English Chamber as well as other foreign orchestras.

In addition to playing in the traditional concert halls of the international performing circuit throughout Europe, North America, Australia, South Africa and Japan, they have had the pleasure of giving recitals and have performed with orchestras in more unusual venues such as Sri Lanka, Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Syria, Jordan, the U.A.E., Kuwait,  Iraq, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Lesotho. They have been guest performers on several cruise liners including the QE2; three television documentaries have been made about their work.

They are immensely popular in the USA, where in the last few seasons they have had fourteen major tours, appearing in 35 States and travelling a total of 70,000 miles.  They tour with Steinway Model D Concert Grand Pianos.

They also own a magnificent and very rare 1928 Pleyel Double Piano (two grands built into one 9' 7" case, containing possibly the largest soundboard of any piano!).  This instrument and their own Steinway pianos are housed in their rather unusual studio - a converted railway arch - which was recently featured in a BBC "Modern Times" TV programme and in the Guardian's magazine "Space".