Meet the pianist who actually makes recitals fun

No matter how much you love music, going to a piano recital can be an uncomfortable experience. A sombre-faced pianist plays in an atmosphere of hushed reverence, perhaps swaying and grimacing to simulate profundity. If a sonata is performed, outbreaks of guilty coughing will occur throughout the audience between movements. It’s an unwritten rule that clapping’s only permissible at the end. When the concert’s over, the pianist walks off stage after a couple of stiff bows, without ever having said a word, and everyone can finally breathe again.  

The annual series of summer piano recitals performed in Oxford by British pianist Jack Gibbons is nothing like that. Now in its 36th year, the series consists of weekly and bi-weekly recitals in the 18th century Holywell Music Room, part of Wadham College and Europe’s oldest purpose-built concert hall. This intimate venue (capacity 200) is conveniently located opposite one of Oxford’s best pubs, the Turf Tavern, to which Gibbons often retires afterwards for a pint.