One-handed pianist to highlight repertoire of pieces written for musicians like himself

 
p42 must credit: DAVID CRUMP pic DAVID CRUMP. 12.1.10 Features special on Nicholas McCarthy a one handed piano player who is a student at the Royal College of Music in London.
David Crump
Louise Jury14 September 2012

A one-handed pianist who played alongside Coldplay at the Paralympics closing ceremony is to highlight the extraordinary repertoire of pieces written for musicians like himself.

Nicholas McCarthy, 23, who was the first one-handed pianist to graduate from the Royal College of Music, appeared with Charles Hazlewood’s Paraorchestra and Coldplay at the Olympic stadium.

He is now turning BBC presenter for a programme on Radio 3 on October 3 in a season dedicated to the piano.

He takes the letter L for “left-handed” in an A to Z of the instrument he fell in love with and began playing at 14. Mr McCarthy, who was born without his right hand, said it was “wonderful” to get the chance to explain more about the range of music available and how some of these works came to be written.

“I didn’t realise how vast the repertoire was until I started studying and I think I’ve probably only covered about a third of it, ” he said.

Mr McCarthy is constantly learning obscure works in addition to favourites such as the Concerto for the Left Hand in D major by Maurice Ravel, commissioned by a pianist who lost an arm in the First World War. McCarthy will also perform in a live BBC gala concert on October 29. He said almost no audience will scare him now, after performing to 86,000 people at the Paralympics.

“As a classical pianist you don’t get to do those pop star gigs so it was wonderful to be involved.” The pianist, who lives near Epsom, said he wore a prosthetic arm as a teenager but it was uncomfortable so he gave it up.

The Piano Season on the BBC launches tomorrow and runs until November 6.

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