Pianist Kathryn Stott has specialized in the music of her native Britain but is a versatile artist with a wide repertory of solo and chamber music. She is well known as a frequent duet partner of cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In addition to performing, Stott is active with various festivals and concert series as an artistic director. She has a substantial recording catalog, much of it with Ma; in 2024, several of her 1980s recordings of music by George Lloyd were reissued by the Lyrita label.
Stott was born on December 10, 1958, in Nelson in Britain's Lancashire region. She attended the Yehudi Menuhin School as a child, and among her teachers there was the famed pedagogue Nadia Boulanger. Stott attended the Royal College of Music, where her principal teacher was Kendall Taylor. In 1978, at 20, she made it to the finals of the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition, ultimately placing fifth. Later that year, she made her London debut at the Purcell Room, and ever since then, she has had a flourishing concert career. Another significant event occurred in 1978 when Stott returned from a vacation to find a Chinese cellist practicing in her apartment. This was Ma, to whom Stott's flatmate, violinist Nigel Kennedy, had sublet his space without specifying that the apartment was shared. Despite the unorthodox introduction, the two became lifelong creative partners, frequently performing and recording together. In 1986, Stott made her recording debut on the Conifer label with an album of works by Gabriel Fauré.
Fauré became one of her specialties, but she has also become known for her performances of British music. Her interpretations of works by Frank Bridge and William Walton are highly regarded, and she was the dedicatee of Peter Maxwell Davies' 1997 Piano Concerto. Stott has also premiered various other contemporary works, including Michael Nyman's The Piano Concerto and many works by Graham Fitkin. Unusually, she always performs from a score, even when playing solo recitals. In addition to Ma, Stott has other A-level chamber music partners, including trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, cellist Christian Poltéra, and pianist Noriko Ogawa. Stott's touring schedule has included appearances in many Western European countries, the U.S., and Japan. In Britain, her schedule has included appearances with all the BBC orchestras and ten concerts at the BBC Proms. Stott's recording catalog includes albums on such major labels as Decca, EMI, Philips, and Hyperion. She has recorded often with Ma, and their joint output includes best-selling items such as 1997's The Soul of the Tango; she has also become independently interested in tango music. Stott has remained active into her seventh decade, releasing the album Songs of Comfort & Hope with Ma in 2020. Two albums of reissued Stott performances of solo piano music and concertos by George Lloyd appeared in 2024 on the Lyrita label; by that time, her catalog comprised well over 50 albums. ~ James Manheim, Rovi
