LEANNE CODY
B i o g r a p h y
Leanne comes from Barry and moved to Manchester aged sixteen. Recently, she has been offered a position as accompanist at Leeds College of Music. She is also a staff pianist at the Royal Northern College of Music, where she studied for the past six years. She graduated with a first class music degree from Manchester University and a Higher Graduate degree from the Royal Northern College of Music on the prestigious joint course. She was offered a scholarship from the RNCM and bursary from the James Pantyfedwen Trust with the title of F W Wright Piano Scholar to continue with her studies as a postgraduate, continuing to study with Peter Lawson. Leanne has now finished her Masters course as a Gold Medal winner in 2014.
Having started to play the piano at the age of six, she then went on to attend the Royal Welsh College of Music junior department before accepting a place at Chetham’s School of Music in 2006.
Over the past year she has given regular solo recitals in Manchester and London, including Wigmore Hall, Purcell Rooms, St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Bridgewater Hall. She has been selected as a Park Lane Young Artist 2013/2014 and has participated in masterclasses with Michael Beroff, Philippe Cassard, Paul Roberts, Pascal Devoyon, Stephen Hough and Matti Maekallio. As a concerto soloist, she has performed Britten’s Piano Concerto with the University of Manchester Symphony Orchestra, and also Torke’s Rust Concerto with the Vaganza New Music Ensemble as part of the RNCM American Keyboard Weekend.
Leanne has been the recipient of many prizes, including the Chetham’s Piano Performance Prize, Elizabeth Evans Award, Procter-Gregg award for highest performance marks for each of the three years of her university course, Patricia Cunliffe award for new music performance from the RNCM and the F W Wright Piano Scholarship.
As a keen ensemble and orchestral player Leanne has had the opportunity to perform with the Hallé as an orchestral pianist, conducted by Sir Mark Elder for a Radio 3 recording. For the past year she has been a member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Foyle Future First Scheme 2014/2015 which allows young musicians to train alongside current LPO players and take part in regular concerts in London, including Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre and Queen Elizabeth Hall. She has frequently performed with the RNCM Orchestras at the RNCM and at BBC Media City and has been selected for the Britten-Pears Orchestral Academy in 2014 performing in Aldeburgh Festival and Edinburgh Festival. Leanne has been the official accompanist for the London Masterclasses Conducting Course and the AberFest music course, and regularly accompanies RNCM conducting classes and courses led by Mark Heron and Clark Rundell. For the past three years she has performed for BBC Radio Three as part of the Proms Portrait project and has twice played at the Wigmore Hall with New Music North-West Festival.
Leanne is extremely interested in contemporary music and gained invaluable orchestral training since embarking on the London Sinfonietta Academy in 2012. With the Sinfonietta she has performed for a live Radio 3 recording at the Royal College of Music. At the RNCM Leanne is an active chamber musician performing in a number of ensembles. With a passion for contemporary music she performed Crumb’s Eleven Echoes of Autumn at the University. In September 2012 Leanne took part in a Radio 3 Interview featuring up and coming pianists in Manchester.