Mark Hooper
the pianist
"His grasp of the structure of classical and romantic music, allied with a most
formidable keyboard technique shows a talent quite out of the ordinary." Sir
Peter Maxwell Davies.
The first performance of classical music that pianist Mark Hooper heard, either
on disc or in concert, was when he was already a first year student at the Queensland
Conservatorium of Music. At this stage the concert highlight of his life thus
far had been a live performance by the rock group Led Zepplin in Brisbane .
He had gained entrance to the Conservatorium with a scholarship through a chance
meeting with a prominent musician who five years earlier, when Mark was 11,
had selected him to play a solo in a concert for 'massed choirs' of school children
at the Brisbane City Hall. Apart from piano lessons, Mark had no other contact
with the performing or musical world. His family was not musical and he attended
the local State High School where no music was taught.
Mark enrolled at the Conservatorium to train as a schools music teacher.
After a year he changed to the 'performers' course. He still intended to do
a further year at the end and become a school teacher. His piano teachers were
Dulcie Robertson and Leah Horowitz. Growing up he had studied with Gyneth Sitcheff.
At the end of his degree course Mark won a scholarship to enable him to study
abroad. He was accepted into the Royal College of Music and began a post-graduate
course in piano with Peter Wallfisch, harpsichord with Ruth Dyson and Dalcroze
Eurythmics with Elizabeth Vanderspar.
"...a most mature, accomplished and
impressive pianist and musician. His performance of Schumann's Kinderszenen
was better than any I have heard in the concert hall, and everything he did
was an object lesson in committed, true musicianship."
Andre Tchaikovsky.
During his time at the Royal College of Music in London, Mark was a bursary
student at the Piano Master Classes at the Dartington Music Summer School for
the four years that Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was the Director. He performed
with great success in the classes of Tamas Vasary, Mitsuko Uchida, Andre Tchaikovsky
and Charles Rosen.
On a trip back to Australia Mark Hooper won the Australian National Bach Prize
and after his time at the Royal College of Music was the first Australian and
one of only two solo pianists living in Europe to be selected to participate
in the prestigious Banff Winter Music Programme in Canada which he then represented
on a concert tour of Eastern Canada.
"Wonderfully controlled playing and
superb tone colour. There is so much imagination and variation in his playing
- magnificent strength too - everything well controlled. A great joy to listen
to. His exquisite tone is quite breathtaking..."
Dr. Eileen Joyce.
Mark has performed extensively throughout Australasia, Europe and Canada. In
England Mark has performed solo at London's Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, at the
Picadilly Festival, at Eton College and regularly in Oxford where he now lives
and teaches piano. As well as recital performances Mark has performed concertos
by Bach, Mozart, Saint Saens, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.
"There was an ease and a thoughtful
approach in Beethoven's op.110 Sonata, in which many of the problems were smoothly
surmounted…. There was no mistaking Mr. Hooper's enthusiasm or his technical
ability in a colourful account of Mussorgsky's, Pictures at an Exhibition."
David Money, The Daily Telegraph, London.
In 1984 Mark's musical career was interrupted by an eleven year commitment to
a spiritual ashram where he devoted his energy to meditation and projects for
the United Nations which took him all over the world. In 1992 and 1993 he was
International Coordinator of the International Forum of the Arts in Sardinia.
In 1995 he left the Ashram to continue his musical development. At the same
time he began a 5 year training in Integrative Psychotherapy and graduated with
a Masters of Arts degree and Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy. He now also
works as a psychotherapist and lecturer at The Minster Centre as part of the
course from which he graduated.
Mark has performed in concert with Yehudi Menuhin, Tamas Vasary, Peter Wallfisch
and Zara Nelsova and recorded a performance for television shown throughout
Europe, North America and Australia.
" ...here was a front rank performer
in our midst. ...an outburst of pianistic splendour.... Mark Hooper can charm
as well as astonish."
Robert Harris, The Richmond and Twickenham Times.
In recent years Mark has given lectures, master classes and recitals at Australian,
Thai, Phillipino and German Universities with a particular emphasis on the psychological
as well as the physical preparation of the performer. In 1995 Mark gave solo
concerts in Berlin and Potsdam as part of a cultural festival celebrating Australian
artists and their work. He was 'artist in residence' at Potsdam University
and gave Master Classes and a concert there. Mark's concert calender now includes
a yearly trip to Australasia for concerts and Master Classes.
Mark performs regularly as chamber musician and soloist. He performs in a duo
with English cellist Alison Kelly. In 1999 he performed the complete Beethoven
Violin Sonatas with London violinist Gareth Griffiths. He has recorded three
CDs, From Distant Lands, Beethoven's Moonlight, Pathetique and Appassionata
Sonatas and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition with Prokofieff's Visions
Fugitives and Frank Bridge's Hour Glass Suite.