Leon is so pleased to be giving another livestream recital at Wigmore Hall on March 19th, performing works by Schubert, Grieg and Schumann. This will be available to watch on all of Wigmore Hall’s social media platforms for 90 days. Click HERE to watch the full performance.

Leon is thrilled to announce the new CD release of Haydn Sonatas Volume 3 on SOMM Recordings, now available online HERE. This is Leon’s ninth disc on the enterprising SOMM label and continues his exploration of Haydn’s rich and varied sonatas following on from highly acclaimed Volumes 1 and 2. Look out for Volume 4 next year!

Leon has received an excellent review in Seen and Heard International of his solo recital and livestream at Wigmore Hall on 10th October: “He displayed enormous sensitivity and tenderness while also breathing life into the more dramatic elements of the work [Schubert Sonata D664] and the strong dynamic contrasts. McCawley’s playing [in Janáčeks’ On an Overgrown Path] was nuanced and insightful, crystallising the very complex emotions at play. Overall, this was an extremely impressive piano recital featuring a consistently high standard of playing throughout.” Read the full review here.

After several months of being unable to perform due to COVID restrictions, Leon is delighted to announce that he will give a solo recital at Wigmore Hall on 10th October. The programme will feature works that were scheduled in his cancelled April recital: Schubert’s Sonata in A major D664, Janáček’s On an Overgrown Path Book 1 and Schumann’s Kreisleriana. The concert will be live-streamed and available to watch worldwide for 30 days via the Wigmore Hall website and on Wigmore Hall’s Youtube channel.

Leon’s YouTube channel has expanded considerably during the lockdown and you can now find over 60 videos of his live concert performances there for easy viewing. Please take a look and subscribe to the channel HERE. Let the music play!

Leon was invited to be the Television Guest on the recent BBC4 TV broadcast of the BBC Young Musician 2020 Keyboard Final and joined presenter Anna Lapwood to offer his expert opinion on the five selected pianists. The programme is available to watch on BBC iPlayer throughout May.

Since many of Leon’s concerts have been cancelled/postponed due to the pandemic, he has created some live recordings in his home studio of some of the repertoire he had planned to play in his spring recitals. Here is a trilogy of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces to view here: Butterfly Op. 43 No. 1, Little Bird Op. 43 No. 4 and To the Spring Op. 43 No. 6.

Leon’s recent performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15 with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Domingo Hindoyan has received a wonderful review in the Cambridge Independent:

“McCawley gave a spellbinding performance of this concerto…[he] was superlative in the first movement’s lengthy cadenza (one of three Beethoven wrote for the concerto), and in the expansive and serene Largo where, towards the end, delicate trills and a throbbing, ever so slightly troubled, intervention in the lower keys leads on to the sprightly and spirited rondo. Leon McCawley’s understanding of this beautiful music was complete. It was impossible not to be moved by both the ability of the composer to create such a thing, and a performer who could engage with it so masterfully”.

Leon’s latest release of Haydn’s Sonatas Volume II for SOMM Recordings was featured today on Andrew McGregor’s BBC Record Review (listen from 4:00 into the broadcast- available on the BBC iPlayer until 13th October):

“First some sparkling Haydn from Leon McCawley…this makes for an excellent opening. McCawley is a persuasive advocate for, as the booklet notes say, Haydn’s ‘airy charm’, observing the wit without undermining the serious intent. A nicely focussed recording.”