Richard Black

Additional Info:

One of the 'usual suspects' for accompanying international opera auditions held in London, I have also performed at most of London's leading recital venues.

I've accompanied every voice and every orchestral instrument in a substantial repertoire (including 117 sonatas for at least 14 instruments at last count, over 1000 songs and several hundred opera arias), both on stage, in concerts, exams and assessments, and behind the scenes. I'm a familiar face at all the London conservatoires and was for several years the main accompanist at Goldsmiths College, where I seemed to accompany almost everyone on almost every instrument. I am the accompanist of choice for several of London's leading opera-singer agents and have worked for dozens of opera companies on dozens on operas, old and new. I have played on (and also engineered and edited) over 550 recordings with at least 300 singers and several instrumentalists.

I love nothing more than a challenge and an opportunity to expand my already lengthy repertoire list (see 'Repertoire' tabs). Cheerful, friendly and happy to travel to your rehearsal venue. I don't often work at home but can arrange rehearsal space in central London if needed. I mostly use Jaques Samuel Pianos in Edgware Road, which satisfies most of the criteria one might specify.

Sight reading? I've done it live on BBC Radio 3, and in singers' auditions have sight-read Strauss, Birtwistle, composers no one has ever heard of - you name it.

For rehearsals and gigs with no piano available I have a good quality Roland 'stage piano' (digital keyboard). I _much_ prefer a real piano but keyboards have their uses. I have some professional experience playing harpsichord, though I don't currently own one.

A few statistics for fun: in one recent exam seasion (of just over two months) I played for approximately 50 undergraduate and postgraduate end-of-year exams (programmes between 12 and 45 minutes) at 5 different institutions, plus about 30 grade exams (ABRSM and Trinity) at every grade, 4 diplomas at grades up to Fellowship, a violin recital with a violinist I had never met before the day of the concert, a song recital or two and an opera gala, plus any amount of opera coaching and a handful of opera staging rehearsals.

I have a DBS Enhanced certificate dated September 2017.

This profile was last brought up to date in April 2024.

Fees

£ 22.00 Pounds Per Hour
£22 per hour, for anything, for anybody. Single audition (in London) £20.

Instruments

Piano, Harpsichord

Specialisms

Contemporary Music, Instrumental Accompaniment, Vocal Accompaniment, Vocal Repetiteur