This is Pamela Nash's second HarpsichordFest as Director, the first in Manchester in 2004 achieving acclaim for its cutting-edge and innovative programming and garnering a four-star review in the Guardian.

 

Pamela was introduced to the harpsichord in 1976 whilst a student at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester.  She then became the first harpsichord student in London to major in the instrument, attending Trinity College of Music as a pupil of Valda Aveling alongside piano studies with Josef Weingarten.  After winning the Raymond Russell Harpsichord Prize, she went on to study with Huguette Dreyfus in Paris before being awarded a Harkness Fellowship for two years' study in the US.  She gained a Master of Music in Early Keyboard Instruments from the University of Michigan, where she studied harpsichord with Edward Parmentier and fortepiano with Penelope Crawford. 

 

Since returning to Britain in 1985, she has been active in championing new music for the harpsichord, collaborating with Jane Chapman as a duo performer and with many composers in the promotion and performance of their works.  Her articles on contemporary harpsichord matters have been published by Contemporary Music Review, Harpsichord & Fortepiano and Diapason.  She is currently editing the complete Sets of Inventions for Harpsichord by Stephen Dodgson, due for publication by Cadenza in 2006/07.  Her playing of Dodgson on the recent CD release High Barbaree was described as "brilliant" by International Record Review. 

Upcoming releases include a CD of Scarlatti Sonatas on the Campion label (2006), a recording with NMC (2007) and a disc of contemporary music for multiple harpsichords on ASC (2007).