Dr Alexander Soares
Key details:
- Department:
- Keyboard
- Role:
- Piano Tutor
Biography
Alexander Soares has garnered a reputation as an authoritative soloist, sensitive collaborator, and dynamic recording artist. In recital, he has been praised for his performances that are “brilliantly unbuttoned” (The Sunday Times) with playing of “huge intensity” (The Telegraph) and “diamond clarity and authority” (BBC Radio 3). He came to international attention in 2015, performing Boulez in a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast at the Barbican Centre; in the same year he also won the Gold Medal in the prestigious Royal Over Seas League Competition and was selected as a solo artist by City Music Foundation. Alexander has since performed in major venues across the UK, including the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, and Bridgewater Hall. He has toured Europe and the USA, with regular radio broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, France Musique, WDR, SWR2 and RTP.
In 2019 he signed with Rubicon Classics to release his debut album Notations & Sketches. Praised for its captivating programme — Boulez, Dutilleux and Messiaen — the disc was selected as ‘Editor’s Choice’ by Gramophone Magazine (May 2019) and received widespread acclaim as “a stunning album” (France Musique) with playing of “style and sophistication” (BBC Music Magazine). In 2021, following his second solo CD – Threnodies – Alexander was selected as a BBC Music Magazine Rising Star, with Gramophone affirming his dynamic performance: “Soares is in his element again, conveying the immensity of the emotional journey”. His latest release in November 2024, Tippett Beethoven Knussen, is the first volume surveying Tippett’s Piano Sonatas.
He has also recorded for KAIROS, featuring on the album NowState (June 2020) by Portuguese composer Gonçalo Gato. During the 2020 lockdown, he collaborated with BBC New Generation Artist Helen Charlston and baritone Michael Craddock to give the world première of The Isolation Songbook: 15 songs by British composers, livestreamed from the iconic St Pancras Clocktower. A CD followed with Delphian Records, awarded Editor’s Choice by Presto Music, and praised as a “lovely, accomplished miscellany of composers, poets and moods” (The Guardian). A keen proponent of contemporary music, Alexander has given numerous premieres, and worked with Tristan Murail, Hugh Wood and Julian Anderson.
A graduate of Clare College, Cambridge, and subsequently of Guildhall School of Music & Drama on the Masters and Doctorate programme, Alexander studied with Ronan O’Hora, whilst benefitting from the guidance of Richard Goode, Stephen Kovacevich, and Steven Osborne. He was appointed Professor of Piano at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2024, where he also works in the Research Department as a Postgraduate Research (PGR) supervisor. He is also a Piano Tutor at Royal Holloway, University of London.