Allegro Vale Piano

The pianist

About

A searching interpreter of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin — praised for a singing tone, a stillness at the keyboard, and recitals that feel like conversations.

Allegro Vale was born in Bath and gave his first public recital at the age of nine. After studies at the Linwood Conservatoire and in Vienna, he came to international attention in 2019 with a debut recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations — fleet, luminous and quietly radical — that became one of the bestselling classical albums of its year and earned him residencies at Alder Court Hall, the Fenwick Summer Festival and Kingsgate Concert Hall.

In 2024 Vale stepped back from the year-round concerto circuit to shape a slower, more deliberate career: each season now holds one major recording, a handful of festival residencies, and a single recital programme toured to small halls across Europe. His repertoire reaches from Rameau and Scarlatti through Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninoff to Ligeti and the living composers he commissions each year. Off stage he teaches, writes about performance practice, and introduces every programme himself — briefly, warmly, and always from the piano stool.

Allegro Vale playing the piano beside an open window

Milestones

  1. 2015Graduates from the Linwood Conservatoire with the Principal’s Prize; debut recital at St Aldric's Church.
  2. 2017First-prize winner at the Hollin International Piano Competition; debuts with the Linwood Philharmonic.
  3. 2019Debut album — Bach’s Goldberg Variations — becomes a classical bestseller; first Alder Court Hall residency.
  4. 2021Beethoven’s five piano concertos in a single week at St Cuthbert's Hall; second album, Chopin Ballades & Nocturnes.
  5. 2024Steps back from full-time touring; appointed visiting professor and launches the annual Vale Sessions films.
  6. 2026Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto at Harcourt Hall; new recording of Rameau and Ligeti side by side.

Repertoire

The composers at the centre of Vale’s recitals and recordings — from the baroque keyboard to the music of today.

  • Bach — Goldberg Variations, Partitas, Well-Tempered Clavier
  • Rameau — Suites in A minor and E minor
  • Scarlatti — selected Sonatas
  • Beethoven — the 32 Sonatas; Concertos No. 4 & 5
  • Chopin — Ballades, Nocturnes, Préludes Op. 28
  • Liszt — Années de pèlerinage (selections)
  • Debussy — Images, Préludes Book I
  • Rachmaninoff — Concerto No. 3, Etudes-tableaux
  • Scriabin — selected Sonatas and Poems
  • Ligeti — Etudes Books I & II
  • Lili Boulanger — works for piano and orchestra
  • Annual commissions from living composers
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