Biography: Tim Abel

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Tim Abel was born in Bury, 1985, and started to learn the piano at the age of eight. At sixteen he was employed as a cocktail-pianist in a local hotel playing jazz and ragtime, and from here his performing career began. In 2003 he was offered a place to study at the Royal Northern College of Music where he is now a postgraduate student studying with Russian pianist Dina Parakhina.

Whilst at the RNCM, Tim has performed as a soloist in several international piano festivals playing the music of Beethoven, Ligeti and Shostakovich. In 2005 he was a winner of the annual concerto competition with Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no.1, and in 2006 played Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra at the Philharmonic Hall.

Early in 2007 he won the John Ireland accompaniment prize at the RNCM and then, following a solo recital in Nottingham was awarded the Gwendolyn Reiche Scholarship. Tim is currently being sponsored by The Mercers Company to do a PGDip in piano accompaniment. He performs regularly as a soloist, accompanist, and ensemble player with a wide range of musicians in both classical and jazz genres, performing throughout the UK and in Norway, Finland, and Romania.