VIRTUOSO pianist Richard Meyrick is coming to Didcot Girls’ School to perform as a part of a nationwide bid to get more young people involved in classical music.

International performer Mr Meyrick will appear at the school on Monday, November 8, when he will give a 90-minute masterclass and workshop for pupils, followed by an evening solo recital to raise funds for the school’s music department.

The evening concert is open to the public and tickets are on sale priced £5 each. The recital will start at 7pm in the school’s Cockcroft Hall and Mr Meyrick will play works by Chopin, Liszt, Mompou, Granados and Kapustin.

Through his Pianoman programme, Mr Meyrick continues to bring to thousands of young people “the opportunity to experience, at first hand, the technical wizardry, the physical strength, the prodigious feats of memory and the melodic and harmonic genius involved in the composition, interpretation and live performance of some of the world’s great musical heritage”.

It also seeks to identify talented young musicians to benefit from personal tuition.

Mr Meyrick said: “I am really looking forward to my day in Didcot. I am constantly on the look-out for talented young pianists to whom I am able to award scholarships to have free all-expenses-paid lessons with me in London.”

The school’s head of music, Bramwell Blyth, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for those in the local area to experience first hand a world concert pianist and this does not happen very often in the local community, except in Oxford.”

Mr Meyrick was awarded a foundation scholarship to the Royal College of Music at 16 and made his concert debut at Wigmore Hall, London, while still a student.

Tickets for the recital are available from the school’s music department.

Call 01235 812092 or e-mail bblyth@didcotgirls.oxon.sch.uk