Photo by Kelley Eady-Loveridge

Stephen De Pledge performs in Jupiter.

Stephen De Pledge had a wide-ranging musical upbringing, playing viola in the New Zealand National Youth Orchestra and oboe in various professional orchestras and chamber groups before deciding to concentrate on the piano. He subsequently studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he won the Beethoven, Romantic and Schubert prizes and the Gold Medal in his final year, following a performance of Prokofiev’s Third Concerto in the Barbican Hall. He then spent two years as a Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music and studied in Paris with Yvonne Loriod.

After winning the NFMS Young Concert Artist Award, he made his debuts in the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and St John’s Smith Square in London, and broadcast for BBC Radio 3 and BBC2 television. His concerto performances have included appearances with the Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony, New London, BBC Scottish Symphony and all the major New Zealand orchestras. De Pledge’s recital and chamber music performances (including over 20 appearances in Wigmore Hall) have taken him to many international festivals, and his solo performances in recent seasons have taken him to Cologne, Paris and New York as well as throughout New Zealand and Australia.

De Pledge has given recitals with many musicians, including Dame Felicity Lott, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Viktoria Mullova, Raphael Wallfisch, Alan Hacker and Rivka Golani, and given chamber performances with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, Chamber Domaine and Scottish Ensemble. His extensive discography includes works by Bliss, Barber, Messiaen, Shostakovich, Brahms, Mussorgsky and Prokofiev. He takes a particular interest in contemporary music and has worked with a great number of composers, making world premiere recordings for Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki and Ned Rorem. De Pledge played the complete solo and chamber works of Arvo Pärt for the Edinburgh Festival and recorded solo works of Thomas Adès for BBC Radio 3. Lyell Cresswell’s First Piano Concerto was written for him and has been performed with four different orchestras and recorded both for Naxos and BBC Radio 3. In addition to his performing schedule, De Pledge is Head of Piano at the School of Music, University of Auckland.