William Bracken, piano

“A fine and confident pianist, a questing mind, musical maturity, great integrity - go and listen!”

– Acclaimed pianist Dame Imogen Cooper

Pianist William Bracken's creative voice stems from a deep fluency with the language of music itself, dissolving musical boundaries through improvisational state of mind, curiosity and acute contextual awareness. A visionary musician with a vast repertoire of classical masterworks, contemporary works and equally at home in jazz and improvised music, 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, 2nd prize at the 2023 Livorno international piano competition 3rd prize at the 2024 UniSA international piano competition. He currently holds a position as a member of teaching staff in the Centre for Creative Performance and Classical Improvisation at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and is the recent founder and artistic director of Port Sunlight International Piano Festival.

Concert highlights include concerto performances at The Barbican, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, St. John’s Smith Square and recitals at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in New York, Chipping Campden Festival, LSO St. Luke’s and 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”. He is also active as a core member of the improvisation group Ensemble+ and bandleader of the Will Bracken trio.

Bracken has collaborated with conductors such as Nicholas Collon (Aurora Orchestra) and Domingo Hindoyan (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic) and his chamber partners have included Michael Barenboim, Angela Hewitt and Jonathan Aasgaard. During his studies in London, 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. He also won a full scholarship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and Summer School in Colorado U.S.A in 2022, studying with Hung-Kuan Chen and Fabio Bidini.