About Me
Originally mooted in 1998, whilst David and James were piano students of Yonty Solomon at the Royal College of Music,the Eaton-Young piano duo finally got it together in 2004 for a charity concert in the tiny village of Eckington, Gloucestershire. Since then they have become Park Lane Group Young Artists and have performed in many London venues including the South Bank Centre, St. Martin-in-the-fields, St. James' Piccadilly, and Wigmore Hall where they gave the world premiere of their new transcription of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring for two pianos, taken from the composer's own piano roll recording with the full support of the Stravinsky Society. In 2008 they were invited to give a private performance of Mahler's Sixth Symphony (complete with hammer blows provided by Sir Norman Rosenthal) in Zemlinsky's transcription for piano four hands at the home of the late Maestro Sir Georg Solti.
"The Rite of Spring was an astounding beast... the duo's savage, relentless aplomb... masterly editing... a percussive triumph." ClassicalSource.comIndividually their career paths have been rather diverse. David is a repetiteur, musical director and conductor and James is a composer and ensemble pianist with a speciality in contemporary music. Between them they have worked and made music with Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Sir David Willcocks, Danielle Gatti, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Paul Patterson, Michael Berkeley, Errollyn Wallen, Jonathan Harvey, Honor Blackman and José Carreras; made a world premiere recording (James’ performance of Roxburgh’s Introduction and Arabesques — available on NMC here ) and recorded with Nu Metal band Kill II This; performed countrywide from the Edinburgh Fringe, Hackney Empire and the Bath Festival to St. John’s Smith Square, the Purcell Room and Buckingham Palace for HRH The Prince of Wales; made several broadcasts on BBC Radio 3; won prizes for piano (Jaques Samuel and Chappell Medal competitions) and organ playing, composition (Adrian Cruft prize, RCM) and accompaniment (David was the first recipient of the John Hart Accompanist’s prize from the Ferrier Bursary Committee); directed a festival (Roxburgh at The Warehouse 2003) and conducted concert performances of Schoenberg, Cage, Poulenc and John Adams as well as opera, operetta and musicals. "... a virtuoso performance..." The TimesThe duo works regularly with The Minotaur Music Theatre and Charles Court Opera of which David is head of music staff, arranging orchestral scores for one or two pianos to enable staged and concert performances at intimate venues.
Their debut as an opera orchestra – the CCO production of The Mikado at Islington's The Rosemary Branch Theatre – was highly acclaimed and they have since supplied music for Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor, Cosi fan tutte and Don Giovanni, Rimsky-Korsakov's Mozart and Salieri and Sullivan operettas HMS Pinafore, Cox and Box, Iolanthe, The Zoo and their sell-out The Pirates of Penzance which was featured on BBC London News, garnering regular appearances at Woodhouse Copse and The Riverhouse Barn in Surrey and the Buxton International G&S Festival. They also take acting and singing musician roles in the company's yearly pantomime. “ one of the most truly enjoyable and intensely musical performance of Gilbert and Sullivan that I have seen" Musical OpinionFor their South Bank debut as PLG Young Artists they joined percussionists O Duo at the Purcell Room, where they gave the world premiere of Kenneth Hesketh’s Vecherinka, preceded by a feature on BBC R3's In Tune programme.
