Joan Havill

Biography

Joan Havill was born in New Zealand where she began her musical studies giving concerts and broadcasts from early childhood. Scholarships brought her to London to study at the Royal College of Music where she joined the class of the celebrated English pianist, Cyril Smith and won several of the College’s most prestigious prizes.

During the 1960’s British Arts Council Scholarships sponsored studies firstly with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and later in London with the Hungarian pianists, Ilona Kabos and Louis Kentner. Her Wigmore Hall debut took place in 1966 and she began her concert career touring regularly throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australasia.

She played concertos with many leading orchestras including the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and toured with the Ulster Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra offering a wide ranging concerto repertoire. She also gave many Wigmore Hall recitals, recorded for Vox and broadcast for BBC Radio 3, NZBC and BBC Television.

Since 1980 Joan Havill has been a Professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and in recent years has gained worldwide recognition as a teacher. Her students have featured amongst the major prize winners of many leading international piano competitions including the Maria Canals, Maria Callas, the Prague Spring, the Pozzoli, William Kapell, the Busoni, the National Power World Piano Competition, Leeds, the 14th Chopin Competition (Warsaw), Epinal 2001, the Scottish International Competition 2001 and the Concours International de Piano Marguerite Long 2001. She gives masterclasses regularly in England and abroad and is a well-known adjudicator.

In 1986 Joan Havill was made a Fellow of Guildhall School of Music & Drama and in 1996 she was given the title of Senior Professor of the Piano Department.