A Piano Concerto for a Piano Teacher!

Greetings – I’m Paul Henley and I’m a professional classical musician based in England. I have been working as a musician since the mid 80s. mainly as an opera singer and singing teacher. However, I have also been writing music since my teens and a few years ago, I took the decision to prioritise my work as a composer. You may wish to visit www.paulhenley-composer.com where there are some career details and some excerpts from some of my works. I regularly seek composing opportunities. Music is food for the soul and has the capacity to offer people hope. If you would like to listen to a sample of my music, then here it is -

THE PROJECT

When I was 15, I started having piano lessons with a wonderful teacher from America. Her name was Reymour Rice. She was from New York and came over to England as a young single mother and raised her five children whilst establishing herself as a piano teacher. She had a profound influence on me in the early years of my musical training and I owe her a great deal. As a measure of my gratitude to her I wrote a Piano Concerto in 2006 and dedicated it to her. A performance of the work was organised but sadly a few weeks before the premier, the orchestra concerned was disbanded and since then I have made several attempts to arrange a performance of the work but to this day it has not been performed. To add to that, sadly, Reymour died a few years ago, so during her earthly life, she did not get to hear the work that I wrote for her. I have now dedicated it to her memory and it would be so very special to me if I could get the work performed. To achieve that to a high standard however would not be viable unless there was some financial backing. The main cost for the project would be the payments to the musicians, but there would also be costs relating to venue hire and advertising. Any proceeds after costs would be given to charity. I believe that music has the capacity to connect us with a great spiritual presence - as Beethoven wrote on one of his scores – "From the heart – may it return to the heart!" Reymour was to me and, I feel sure, many others, an inspiration, a valued colleague and friend, a true musician and a great spokeswoman for music and its enrichment of society. If this Piano Concerto was performed, it would be so very special to me and as such, your help would be deeply appreciated.

Thank you,

Paul Henley