BIOGRAPHY

Pianist Joseph Middleton specializes in the art of song accompaniment and chamber music and has been internationally acclaimed as one of the finest musicians in this field. Described in Opera Magazine as ‘the rightful heir to legendary accompanist Gerald Moore’, by BBC Music Magazine as ‘one of the brightest stars in the world of song and Lieder’, he has also been labelled ‘the cream of the new generation’ by The Times. 

He is a passionate advocate for the transformative power of music, and as well as performing and recording world-wide, he is a festival director and sought-after pedagogue. Named ‘the absolute King of programming’ by Gramophone Magazine, Joseph frequently devises series for BBC Radio 3, Wigmore Hall and the University of Cambridge. He is Musician in Residence at, and Bye-Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge where he curates a series of song recitals and directs the University’s Lieder Scheme. He is a Fellow of his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music, where he is also a Professor of Ensemble Piano. For the past 9 years he has also been Director of Leeds Lieder, a Festival recently praised in the Guardian for its ‘World-class’ programming and lauded in The Times for bringing: ‘musical riches to Yorkshire through star performers, engaging new commissions and bold educational projects….a Northern powerhouse of song.’

Joseph is a frequent guest at major music centres including London’s Wigmore Hall, Royal Opera House, Barbican and Royal Festival Hall, New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Park Avenue Armory, Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus and Musikverein Vienna, Zürich Tonhalle, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Berlin BoulezSaal and Philharmonic, Kölner Philharmonie, Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid, Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Lille and Gothenburg Opera Houses, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Musée d’Orsay Paris, Oji Hall Tokyo and Festivals in Aix-en-Provence, Aldeburgh, Barcelona, Schloss Elmau, Edinburgh, Heidelberger Frühling, Munich, Ravinia, San Francisco, Schubertiade Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, deSingel, Soeul, Stuttgart, Toronto and Vancouver. He made his BBC Proms debut in 2016 alongside Iestyn Davies and Carolyn Sampson and returned in 2018 alongside Dame Sarah Connolly where they premiered recently discovered songs by Benjamin Britten.

Joseph enjoys recitals with internationally established singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Louise Alder, Mary Bevan, Ian Bostridge, Allan Clayton, Dame Sarah Connolly, Marianne Crebassa, Iestyn Davies, Fatma Said, Samuel Hasselhorn, Christiane Karg, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Katharina Konradi, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, John Mark Ainsley, Ann Murray DBE, James Newby, Mark Padmore, Mauro Peter, Miah Persson, Sophie Rennert, Ashley Riches, Dorothea Röschmann, Kate Royal, Carolyn Sampson, Nicky Spence and Roderick Williams.

He has a special relationship with BBC Radio 3, frequently curating his own series and performing alongside the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists. His critically acclaimed and fast-growing discography has seen him awarded a Diapason D’or, Edison Award and Priz Caecilia as well as receiving numerous nominations for ECHO, Opus-Klassik, Gramophone, BBC Music Magazines and International Classical Music Awards. His interest in the furthering of the song repertoire has led him to commission and give the premieres of major new works by important voices including: Thomas Adès, Nico Muhly, Hannah Kendall, Cheryl Frances Hoad, Daniel Kidane, Mark Anthony Turnage, Errollyn Wallen, Helen Grime, Huw Watkins, Brian Elias, Judith Bingham, Ed Nesbitt, Deborah Pritchard, Kate Whitley, Robin Holloway, Michael Berkeley and Sally Beamish among others.

Joseph Middleton was the first, and to date only accompanist to win the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award, the UKs most prestigious award to be bestowed upon a musician.