“This is one of the best and most illuminating Alkan recordings to have appeared recently.” — Robert Nemecek, PianoNews.de

 

British pianist Andrew Yiangou is recognized for his performances of both core classical repertoire, alongside a particular interest in lesser-known repertoire, with a focus on Charles-Valentin Alkan, Nikolai Kapustin, Leopold Godowsky, Nikolai Medtner, Georgy Catoire and Sergei Lyapunov.

 

In September 2025 he released his debut album, Le Petit Concert, on Rubicon Classics, a two-CD programme devoted to the piano works of Charles-Valentin Alkan. The recording has received international critical attention, with International Piano describing him as “a characterful player responsive to structure and theatre… his tone is big, his dynamic range wide, his touch never abrasive,” while PianoNews.de described the album as “one of the best and most illuminating Alkan recordings to have appeared recently.” Writing in FonoForum, Frank Sieber noted that Yiangou “shows that Alkan… belongs in the same league as Schumann, Wagner, Liszt and Chopin,” adding that he “convinces particularly where a blooming tone and beautifully shaped cantilenas are required.”

 

A graduate of the Royal College of Music, he studied with Norma Fisher, Vanessa Latarche and Gordon Fergus-Thompson, supported by scholarships from the Tillett Trust and the Eileen Rowe Musical Award Trust, and was awarded the prestigious Mills Williams Junior Fellowship.

 

His competition successes include prizes at the 3rd Gershwin International Piano Competition (New York), the Bromsgrove International Competition, the Norah Sande Award, the WPTA International Piano Competition (Novi Sad), the International Piano Festival Poros (Greece) and the 19th Petar Konjović International Piano Competition (Belgrade), and semi-finalist placements at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht (2020, 2022).

 

Andrew has performed widely in the United Kingdom, appearing at venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Cadogan Hall, Steinway Hall, St James’s Piccadilly, St Lawrence Jewry, St Barnabas Ealing and St Mary’s Perivale, and internationally in the United States, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France and Poland. He has collaborated with artists including Robert Levin, Ya-Fei Chuang, Stephen Hough, Lang Lang, Charles Owen, Kathryn Stott and Peter Jablonski, and with chamber ensembles including the Elias, Callino, Cherubini, Bardolino and Heine Quartets, as well as orchestras including the Ealing Youth Orchestra, Ealing Symphony Orchestra, City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra, Bedford County Youth Orchestra and Dorking Philharmonia.