Jennifer Hughes

Jennifer Walsh is among Britain's leading collaborative pianists and has released several albums with cellist Lionel Handy. She is also an educator who has worked with Maxim Vengerov and others in master classes. Walsh was born Jennifer Hughes and has often been billed under that name, including on all three of her albums as of 2023. She attended the Wells Cathedral School, a boarding school specializing in music, on a British government scholarship. Her piano teacher there was Hilary Coates. Walsh went on to the Royal College of Music, where she studied with John Blakely and Roger Vignoles, both specialists in piano accompaniment and chamber music. While there, she won several honors, including the Royal Over-Seas Accompaniment Prize. Her studies were supported by the Draper's Company, Henry Wood Trust, Help Musicians UK, and the Worshipful Company of Founders, as well as by the school's Gilbert and Eileen Edgar Junior Fellowship in piano accompaniment. As an accompanist, Walsh has performed widely across Britain and beyond. She has also appeared as a solo recitalist, performing at such major venues as Wigmore Hall in London, the Oslo Opera House, Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow, and the Xinghai Conservatory in China. In 2017, she released her debut album on the Lyrita label, joining cellist Lionel Handy on a program of sonatas by Frederick Delius, Arnold Bax, and John Ireland. Walsh has been featured on the BBC 3 radio network multiple times, on such programs as In Tune and BBC Proms Plus. Her collaboration with Handy has developed into a series of albums exploring British cello-and-piano repertory; the album British Cello Sonatas, featuring four works by women, appeared in 2019, and Handy and Walsh returned on Lyrita in 2023 with an album of works by Delius, Ethel Smyth, Benjamin Britten, and Armstrong Gibbs. Walsh taught coaching and accompaniment for several years at the Royal College of Music, working, among other things, on master classes with violinist Maxim Vengerov. She also taught at festivals, including Aldeburgh Young Musicians, New Virtuosi International, the Festival Quattro Corde (Italy), and the Voksenåsen Summer Academy (Norway). As of 2023, she was on the faculty at the Perse School, Cambridge.
© James Manheim /TiVo