August 31, 20:00
All places are booked. There will be a live broadcast on the Main stage
The British pianist Stephen Ridley, whose motto is “play the piano like you were playing rock-guitar”, will give a solo performance at New Holland on 31 August.
Born in the North of England, Stephen Ridley first took up the piano when he was six years old. In spite of their son’s obvious interest in music, his parents insisted on giving him an education focused on economics, and by the time he was 21 he was already working as a trader in the City of London.
In October 2011 the future musician came to the realisation that he couldn’t work in an office anymore, and so, remembering his childhood, he went and bought a piano, which he started to play right on the street in the centre of London. A month later he had already released his first album, Butterfly in a Hurricane.
A journalist from the British London Lifestyle Magazine has written that Ridley’s performance radically alters one’s perception of piano music: “His playing is raw and edgy, and as strange as it may seem, his music is utterly without airs and graces, but great live music shouldn’t be polished, it’s not for sale — instead it should awaken feelings, convey emotion and draw the audience in.”
