DARLINGTON Piano Society welcomes Clare Hammond for its recital at Central Hall on 9th November at 3pm for what should prove to be a revelatory experience.

Clare is a passionate advocate of 20th and 21st Century music and has fostered a speciality in works for the left hand only.

Alongside works by three icons of the musical world in JS Bach, Beethoven and Chopin, she includes two works for left hand only by Scriabin and Dinu Lipatti, a rarely heard piano work by Sibelius and a contemporary piece by the British composer, Malcolm Pointon, entitled Five Epigrams and an Epiphonema (1970).

Highlights in 2014 have included 3 BBC radio broadcasts, debut performances at seven festivals across Europe and the world premieres of works by 10 composers.

She recently gave her debut recital at the ‘Chopin and his Europe’ Festival in Warsaw and returned there under the auspices of the British Council's Artists' International Development Fund to give performances of Panufnik's Piano Concerto in Kalisz and Lublin.

Clare's disc, ‘Reflections’, of Andrzej and Roxanna Panufnik's piano music has been well received, nominated as an 'International Piano Choice' and awarded 5 stars by Diapason. She is curating a chamber festival to celebrate the centenary of the birth of composer Andrzej Panufnik at Kings Place, London, in November also.

Over the summer, Clare was selected to be part of the Philip Langridge Mentorship Scheme, established by the Royal Philharmonic Society, and has been paired with French pianist and mentor Anne Queffélec with whom she will work with over the course of the next year in Paris.

Full details of this recital and the subsequent four in the season can be found at www.dpiano.co.uk and in a brochure available at libraries, the Civic Theatre, the Dolphin Centre and other locations. Individual tickets can be purchased in advance at the Dolphin Centre or at the door on November 9.

The full programme is: JS Bach, Italian Concerto, BWV 971; Scriabin, Prelude and Nocturne for the left hand alone, op 9; Sibelius,The Trees, op 75; Lipatti Sonatine for left hand alone; Mendelssohn, Songs without Words, Op 67, nos 2, 5 & 4; Malcolm Pointon, Five Epigrams and an Epiphonema (1970); Chopin, Études, op 25