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Our Accompanist
Anna Le Hair joined us as our accompanist in spring 2007.
She started playing the piano as soon as she could reach the
keys. After winning many scholarships and prizes at Edinburgh
University and, subsequently, at the Royal College of Music, she won a
scholarship from the Austrian Institute to spend a summer studying
piano accompaniment at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Since then, Anna has enjoyed a busy and varied career as pianist and
piano teacher. Engagements have included recitals, both solo and as
chamber musician and accompanist, in many London venues and others
around Britain and abroad. She has twice played Grieg's piano
concerto with the Hertfordshire Philharmonia, and has also played
Mozart's concerto no. 21 and Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto
with the same orchestra. She has also played harpsichord in a
performance of Bach's Brandenburg concerto no. 5 with the
Buckinghamshire Chamber Orchestra.
In July 2006, she was nominated for the title of 'Performer of the
Fringe' at the Buxton Festival. She has recently participated
in festivals in Rayleigh and Canterbury, and given concerts in
Edinburgh, Manchester, London, and Provence, among other places.
Anna has also undertaken such diverse activities as playing background
music in London hotels and restaurants, touring the UK and Channel
Islands with the Lewis London Ballet, and repetiteuring for opera
groups and choral societies. She is a Senior House Pianist at the
Ardingly International Summer School, and is Neil Jenkins' accompanist
of choice at his masterclasses around Britain.
Anna currently teaches piano and accompanies at the Arts Educational
School in Tring, Hertfordshire, and at St Albans High School. As
well as the Chiltern Choir, she accompanies the Aeolian Singers in
Hemel Hempstead, and is much in demand as an accompanist for singers
and instrumentalists.
Forthcoming engagements include 'Rhapsody in Blue' with the
St Albans Symphony Orchestra in St Albans Abbey on New
Years' Day 2009, and Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto with the
Buckinghamshire Chamber Orchestra in the following May.
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