In the UK he has given recital and concerto
performances at the principal concert halls including the Barbican,
Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall in London. He has also performed at many of
the leading Music Festivals in the country; Harrogate, Litchfield,
Amersham and Sheffield and has been artist-in-residence at the King’s
Lynn Music Festival. His concerto performances have been with some of the
best UK orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic and the Bournemouth
Symphony Orchestra. Elsewhere in Europe he has performed in Spain and
France where he has broadcast by Radio France. In the UK his playing has
been broadcast by both BBC TV and BBC Radio 3.
He has been keen to promote the music of 20th
Century composers. In this area he has become the leading interpreter of
the piano music of Britain’s foremost composer Sir Michael Tippett. His
CD recordings of the Tippett Piano Sonatas have won particular
recognition. His connections with Tippett were strong up until the latter’s
death at the age of 92 in 1997. He took part in a BBC TV documentary film
about the composer in which he performed music by Gershwin; this was shown
in September 1991. The following year he accompanied Sir Michael to Madrid
where he gave a highly acclaimed recital which included some contemporary
Spanish music. In January 1994 he took part in a live Radio France
broadcast with Sir Michael, performing the composer’s Second and Fourth
Sonatas alongside works by Gershwin, Stravinsky and Debussy. This
performance drew particular praise from the French composer Henri
Dutilleux. Later that year he toured the Tippett Piano Concerto with the
Northern Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Michael’s 90th
birthday celebrations in 1995 led to performances in the Barbican’s ‘Visions
of Paradise’ Festival and the Tippett Conference in Newcastle.
An interest in Spanish music has led Unwin to become a
leading interpreter of 20th Century Spanish Music. In 1993, he
organised, promoted and performed in ‘Images of Iberia’, a weekend
event of Spanish music at Blackheath Concert Halls. Early in 1994 he gave
his recital debut of Spanish music at Fairfield Halls and was invited back
to open their series the following season. In addition to live recitals in
Spain in 1997 he recorded works by the colourful Cuban-born Spaniard
Joaquin Nin. He also had his first work written specially for him by
Spain’s leading composer Luis de Pablo, which he premiered the following
year. His recording of the cycle 'Iberia' by Albeniz was released Chandos
in 2000.
He has also been keen to continue his association with
Youth Orchestras and to encourage young musicians; in 1998 he made a
return visit to the Northern Junior Philharmonic playing Prokofiev’s
Third Concerto on a tour which included the Harrogate and Stockton
Festivals and Durham Cathedral.
He runs a music festival from his own concert room
(images 1 & 2)
which was built alongside his home in East Anglia in 1995. Its popularity
has already led to one concert there being recorded and broadcast by the
BBC World Service in December 1998. In March 1999 he demonstrated his
musical versatility by forming his own trio which gave a sell-out series
of cabaret jazz concerts. After five stimulating years in Tokyo,
Japan, he returned to England in 2004.
