The Music of Nigel Keay

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CONCERT

title

Reid Hall
Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc
4 rue de Chevreuse, Paris 75006

Mercredi 13 mai 2026, 19h30

Au programme :

Introduction of the concert by Dunstan Ward

Nigel Keay - Voices of the Air a setting of the poem by Katherine Mansfield (5'20") *

Ross James Carey - Two Poems of Katherine Mansfield, (There is a Solemn Wind Tonight, Sea Song) (10'35") **

Gillian Whitehead - E rewa mai, Pikeri for voice alone (5'08") *

Nigel Keay - Setting of W.B. Yeats (final song from At the Hawk's Well for vocal duo + piano) (4'32")

Dunstan Ward/Nigel Keay; The Swallows, The Garden at Night Total; (5'48") *
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Nigel Keay - Terrestrial Mirror pour flûte, alto et harpe (3 movements, 17'38")
Musiciens; Sandra Howard - flûte, Nigel Keay - alto, Nicolas Hette - harpe

Arnold Trowell - Violin Sonata, Op. 24 (1917) (in three movements) (18'02")

The Violin Sonata by Arnold Trowell was composed for and dedicated to the composer's twin brother Garnet Trowell, with whom Katherine Mansfield had a love affair. Masha Lankovsky and Mirei Tsuji will be giving the first modern-era performance of this sonata, long-forgotten since its premiere at Wigmore Hall, London, in 1917.

Total duration of music; 62 minutes

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A propos des artistes

Mezzo-soprano Tessa Romano is Senior Lecturer in Classical Voice at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, the University of Otago. They have held opera fellowships at Aspen Opera Center and CU New Opera Workshop, and performed with the Syracuse Symphony, the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, the Hartford Symphony, the American Handel Society, Boulder Opera, and Opera Otago, among others. Past awards include First Place in the Florida Grieg Voice Competition, Winner of The Art of Art Song Competition, and Winner of the Franco-American Vocal Academy's Grand Concours Prize. Romano holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado Boulder, a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Arts in Italian and Music from Princeton University. Past teachers include Christopher Arneson, Jennifer Bird, Helen Boatwright, Nikki Li Hartliep, Freda Herseth, and Richard Lalli.

Masha Lankovsky - violin. Born in Moscow, Masha Lankovsky began her musical studies in New Zealand and Australia where she spent her childhood.  Following studies at the Royal Academy of Music, Masha was awarded her Bachelors and Master's degrees from Indiana University, Bloomington and a doctorate from the City University of New York. She is currently professor at the Versailles Conservatory in France and co-artistic director of the Shkolnikova Academy. As a violinist she has appeared in international festivals such as Schleswig Holstein (Germany), Britten Pears festival (England), the American Conservatoire in Fontainebleau (France) and she has been awarded multiple residencies at the Banff Centre (Canada). She was the violinist in the neoLIT chamber ensemble for many years and introduced many new works by female composers. Her recording "Russian Dreams," with pianist Byron Schenkman was released on the Centaur label and features rarely heard compositions by Taneyev, Roslavets, Medtner, Prokofiev, and Scriabin. Masha has written articles for The Strad magazine and her English translation and edition of the writings of the renowned pedagogue Yuri Yankelevich is published by Oxford University Press. 

Mirei Tsuji - piano. Mirei Tsuji began playing piano at age four in Algeria and later continued her studies in Japan at the Junior Toho Music College. In 1988, she moved to the UK on scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music studying with Christopher Elton. In 1996, she joined the Paris Conservatoire through the ERASMUS program, studying with Gerard Frémy. She also appeared in Serbian TV documentaries on music. She completed the post graduate performance course with distinction in 1999. Mirei has worked with notable musicians including Hiromi Okada, Dominique Merlet, and Peter Feuchtwanger. She has won prizes at several international competitions, including the San Sebastián and the Rome International Competition (four-hands and two-pianos). She performs widely as a soloist and chamber musician across Europe and Japan. 

Kayla Collingwood is a New Zealand contralto based in Paris. Passionate about the diversity of the contralto repertoire, she showcases it to audiences through recitals and performances in a variety of settings internationally. She holds a Master of Music in Classical Voice and a postgraduate certificate in Theatre Studies from New Zealand, and has continued her artistic development in Paris and London, transitioning from mezzo-soprano to contralto in 2022. Alongside her work as a performer, she is a dedicated voice teacher, including working with the voice as a tool for wellbeing and trauma recovery. She is also the founder of Sound Garden, an initiative dedicated to accessible and creative music education.

Nigel Keay. Originally from New Zealand, Nigel Keay today lives and works in Paris, France as a composer and violist. Throughout his musical career he has always been an active participant in presenting his own music either as a violist or on occasions as conductor.

Sandra Howard, flûte. American flutist Sandra Howard has been living in France since 1981. After her flute studies in the USA with Samuel Baron, Thomas Nyfenger and Richard Bromley, she came to France to further her education with Michel Debost, then soloist with the Orchestre de Paris. She holds a Bachelor of Music (Eastern Kentucky Univ.), Master of Music (SUNY Stony Brook), and Certificate of Teaching ABRSM (England). She plays in various chamber and orchestral groups and teaches the flute at the École Koenig in Paris.

Piano - Ludovic Disseau. Formé au piano dès l'enfance, Ludovic Disseau poursuit ses études musicales jusqu'au deuxième cycle à l'ENM de Chartres, avant de les approfondir au CRD de Cachan auprès d'Ani Petrossian, où il obtient une médaille d'or de Formation Musicale (2008) et un Diplôme d'Études Musicales (2009). Parallèlement, il se forme à l'écriture musicale au CRR de Saint-Maur-des-Fossés avec Élisabeth Ballon (diplômé en 2011), puis au CRR d'Aubervilliers–La Courneuve dans la classe de Thomas Lacôte (diplômé en 2013). Il se produit régulièrement en concert, en particulier en duo de piano à quatre mains avec Julie Sandler, avec qui il joue depuis 2012.

Nicolas Hette, harp Nicolas joue de la harpe depuis l'âge de 7ans. Il a débuté auprès de Philippe Villa au CRR de Nancy où il a obtenu son diplôme d'études musicales en 2000 puis son diplôme de concert en 2001. Depuis 2009, il continue de se perfectionner avec Véronique Musson-Gonneaud au conservatoire d'Ivry-sur-Seine et développe sa pratique musicale au sein de divers ensembles.

Dunstan Ward. A fourth generation Aotearoa New Zealander, Dunstan Ward was born in 1942 in Dunedin, Otago. After journalism and university teaching he left in 1971 for London, and in 1973 settled in Paris, retiring as Professor of English at the University of London Institute in 2007; he still teaches a weekly literature seminar at Reid Hall, the Paris centre of Columbia University (New York). He has published three poetry collections, and with Beryl Graves, the poet's widow, he edited the Complete Poems of Robert Graves. He has been active in the France-New Zealand Association since its foundation.