Michael Pollock

Michael Pollock won a music scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford and after graduating he studied piano accompaniment with Roger Vignoles at the Royal College of Music. He acted as official accompanist for the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition on three occasions and has frequently broadcast on Radio 3. His recordings include a disc of English songs with the baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore, two collections of Italian songs with Rebecca Evans and Nuccia Focile, the world premiere of Alun Hoddinott’s Towy Landscapes, and both Brahms clarinet sonatas (plus the sonata by Nino Rota) with Leslie Craven.

Michael has always enjoyed sharing his enthusiasm for the art-song repertoire with younger accompanists, and many of his past students are now successful accompanists in their own right. He also coaches repetiteurs, including those at the National Opera Studio where he has taught for more than twenty years.

Among the many singers whom Michael has accompanied during his international career are Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, with whom he has given recitals in Europe, Asia, Scandinavia, and at the 50th Israel Festival in Jerusalem; and Sir Bryn Terfel, with whom he has appeared in the UK, Norway, Asia, and Australia, as well as at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has also partnered several instrumentalists including violinist Kerenza Peacock, cellists Christopher Bunting and Steffan Morris, and clarinettists Leslie Craven and Robert Plane.

Michael is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.