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"Jack
Gibbons is renowned for his skills as a piano virtuoso. What is less well Oxford Times
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JACK GIBBONS has been described by the press as "one of England's most exciting young pianists". His performances have been received with tremendous standing ovations in some of the world's greatest concert halls, including New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall and London’s Queen Elizabeth and Royal Albert Halls, and his recordings have consistently attracted rave reviews, awards and commendations. He has also recently returned to composition, and as a composer has had very successful all-Gibbons concerts in New York and in the UK. Born in 1962 Jack Gibbons began performing in public at the age of 10, made his professional solo recital debut playing Liszt’s B minor Sonata at the age of 15, his London debut with an all-Alkan solo recital at 17, and at 20 won the Newport International Pianoforte Competition with a performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales which was described by the jury as "masterly". Two years later he gave a critically acclaimed Queen Elizabeth Hall debut recital at London's South Bank Centre, performing Bach's Goldberg Variations, Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit and Chopin's Funeral March Sonata, which the London Times described as "monumental". |
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Jack Gibbons with Gershwin's sister Frankie
and Edward Jablonski, New York, March 1994 |
In
1990, after an absence of several years from the music profession, he made a dramatic
comeback when he gave the first of what have become annual all-Gershwin programmes to a
packed hall and standing ovation at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. His programme
featured the world premieres of his meticulous reconstructions of Gershwin's breathtaking
improvisations. A year later he was invited to New York to meet members of Gershwin's
family, including Gershwin's sister Frances Godowsky. In 1994 he gave his New York and
Washington DC debuts to tremendous acclaim, and the following year he made his debut at
the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, performing the work with which he has
become so closely associated – George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, the BBC
hailing him as "THE Gershwin pianist of our time".
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| Jack Gibbons' flourishing career was almost cut short in March
2001, when he narrowly cheated death in a horrific car accident. He suffered multiple
injuries including fractures to his face, chest and feet, a very badly shattered left arm,
and serious internal injuries. His amazing recovery was crowned by return recitals at New
York's Carnegie Hall in 2001 and London's Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2002, the press
describing his comeback as "miraculous" , "gutsy" ,
and "triumphant" . Following
two more sell-out concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in July 2003 and 2004 Jack returns
to London's premier recital venue on July 10th 2005 to celebrate 16 years of annual
all-Gershwin solo concerts in the UK capital. Jack Gibbons' recording credits include a Gramophone Award
nomination, MRA awards, and numerous special commendations by CD magazines, newspapers,
etc.. His award-winning "Authentic George Gershwin" series on ASV features the
first modern recordings of over 4˝ hours of original Gershwin material and has been
described in the media as "a unique testimony to Gershwin's genius" and
by Edward Jablonski, Gershwin’s biographer and long-time friend of the Gershwin
family, as "exciting and uncanny, a remarkable recreation of Gershwin’s
unique keyboard style". Gibbons' uniquely "high-spirited and
historically informed" (New Yorker) Gershwin repertoire is built around his
meticulous note-for-note transcriptions by ear of Gershwin's original improvisations,
recorded by the composer on 78s, radio broadcasts and piano rolls in the 1920s and 30s. In addition to his performing career Jack Gibbons is also now becoming known as a composer. This side of his career began unexpectantly when he returned to composition while recovering from his life-threatening car accident in 2001. As a child he had begun composing at the age of 9. By the age of 13 he had written and fully orchestrated a three movement piano concerto and at 14 was awarded a special composition prize by the British composer Sir Lennox Berkeley. Since then his performing career prevented him from pursuing his own writing. Then in 2001, while recovering from his injuries, Gibbons began writing songs (including settings of poems by Christina Rossetti, Emily Brontë and others). He has since had his music performed with great success in New York (in a concert consisting entirely of his own work) as well as in the UK and on the BBC.
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