This article is about the pianist and composer. For the American scientist and former head of the Office of Technology Assessment, see John H. Gibbons (scientist).
Jack Gibbons (born 2 March 1962) is an English-born American classical composer and virtuoso pianist.[1][2][3]
Biography
Gibbons was born in England. His father was a scientist[4] and his mother a visual artist.[5] He began his piano studies in Stockton-on-Tees, later continuing in Oxford. He began performing in public at the age of 10. He made his London debut in 1979,[6] at the age of 17, with an all-Alkan concert that included Alkan's Concerto for Solo Piano[5] and Ouverture from Op. 39.[7] At the age of 20 he won First Prize in the Newport International Pianoforte Competition,[6] with a performance with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. In 1984 he made his Queen Elizabeth Hall debut[8] performing J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, Chopin's "Funeral March" Sonata and Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, after which recital The Times wrote that Gibbons "could be Britain's answer to Ivo Pogorelić".[9][10] Since then Gibbons has played in many prestigious venues and festivals all over the world, as recitalist and concerto soloist.[11]
For 16 years, from 1990 to 2005, Gibbons gave annual all-Gershwin concerts at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall,[5] with a gap in 2001 following a near-fatal car accident. These concerts feature Gibbons' own note-for-note reconstructions and transcriptions of the original recorded improvisations and concert works of George Gershwin.[12] Over the 16 years of his Queen Elizabeth Hall all-Gershwin concerts, Gibbons has given the world premieres of at least 48 reconstructed original Gershwin works.[10] He has also since 1994 given similar all-Gershwin concerts at New York's Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall.[13]
In 1992 Gibbons made his recording debut on the Hyperion label (with Constant Lambert's The Rio Grande). The recording was nominated for a Gramophone Award and awarded a Penguin Guide 3-star rosette.[14] Between 1992 and 1997 Gibbons recorded a 4-CD set of recordings entitled "The Authentic George Gershwin", which won an MRA (Music Retailers Award).[13] Issued on the British label ASV, Gibbons' "Authentic George Gershwin" recordings were described by Classic CD as "a unique testimony to Gershwin's genius".[15]
In January 1995, in Oxford, Gibbons became the first pianist ever to perform all 12 of Alkan's Douze Etudes dans les Tons Mineurs, Op. 39 in a single concert (the concert was repeated the following year at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London).[16] The same month Gibbons recorded the work (its first digital recording) for the ASV label, Gramophone describing the recording as "among the most exhilarating feats of pianism I've heard on disc".[17] The same year, on 27 August 1995 Gibbons made his BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall with Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, the BBC describing Gibbons as "THE Gershwin pianist of our time".[18] In 1997 Gibbons wrote and presented a feature programme for the BBC on George Gershwin in preparation for the centenary of the composer's birth, with actor Sir Ben Kingsley providing the voice of George Gershwin.[19]
In March 2001, Gibbons was involved in a life-threatening car accident.[20] Gibbons' accident and recovery were the subject of much media attention from newspapers, television and radio, with features in The Sunday Times, Gramophone, BBC etc.[11] Michael Church in the Daily Express described Gibbons' subsequent return to the concert platform as "miraculous" and "gutsy".[21] Following his serious car accident, Gibbons has given increasing attention to composing in place of his performing career. After childhood successes as a composer, Gibbons had abandoned his composing for 25 years in favour of performing.[22] Gibbons' own music has since been performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and recorded by the BBC.[23][24] Gibbons' output to date (September 2017) includes over 40 songs and choral works (many for soprano voice, sung by sopranos Leona Mitchell, Christine Brewer, Mary Plazas, Ann Mackay, Suzanne Fleming-Atwood and others[25]), 20 solo piano works, and two works for string orchestra.
Gibbons' performing career still continues alongside his composing. In March 2007 Gibbons gave the first performance at Carnegie Hall of Alkan's Concerto for Solo Piano, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the work's publication in Paris in 1857.[26] Gibbons continues to perform in Oxford, where he has been presenting and playing an annual summer piano festival every year without a break since 1988.[27] He was appointed artist-in-residence at Davis and Elkins College, in the U.S. state of West Virginia, in June 2010.[28] Gibbons became a naturalized American citizen on 29 November 2023.[29][3]
Works
List of compositions by Jack Gibbons by category
Orchestral
Lament for strings, Op. 41
Serenade for strings, Op. 71
Choral
Cradle Song, Op. 64a
Ave verum corpus, Op. 89
Ave verum corpus, Op. 90
My heart is like a singing bird, Op. 91
Christmas Bells, Op. 92
The Lamb Child, Op. 95
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, Op. 100
The Virgin's Cradle Hymn, Op. 101
Wiegenlied, Op. 103
O Magnum Mysterium, Op. 105
Winter Song (words by Bill King), Op. 102
Lovely Kind (words by Nicholas Breton), Op. 104
Christmas Song (words by Lydia Avery Coonley), Op. 108
Balulalow, Op. 109
Songs
Sonnet: Remember me (words by Christina Rossetti), Op. 12
Phantom of Delight (words by William Wordsworth), Op. 13
When We Two Parted (words by Lord Byron), Op. 14
I'll Not Weep (words by Emily Brontë), Op. 15
Beloved Again (words by Emily Brontë), Op. 16
Music, when soft voices die (words by Percy Bysshe Shelley), Op. 17
Echo (words by Christina Rossetti), Op. 18
Sleep Not (words by Emily Brontë), Op. 19
Why? (words by Christina Rossetti), Op. 20
Epitaph for a child (words by Robert Herrick), Op. 21
