Hampstead Arts Festival - ADD EVENT

Buster Keaton

(1895 - 1966)

Pioneering film comedian, writer and director Buster Keaton was born in Kansas in 1895 to parents who were vaudeville performers. His slapstick skills developed when, as a young child, he joined his parents on stage. He began making silent films in his early twenties and quickly gained recognition as a major creative talent. Sherlock Jr, widely considered one silent cinema's funniest films, was made in 1924, three years before another of his masterpieces, The General.

The following years saw swings in Keaton’s professional and personal fortunes. While he never again reached the creative success of his best silent films, his later years saw increasing recognition for his earlier achievements as well as acting parts in several notable films, such as Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight, and Richard Lester’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Peter Foggitt

Peter Foggitt is a conductor, composer, pianist, and organist. He made his BBC Radio 3 debut at 21, playing Rachmaninov's third concerto; he has won several competitions for solo and collaborative piano - including the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the Croydon Concerto Competition - and was a finalist in the 2017 St Albans International Organ Improvisation Competition. Recent recital venues include Wigmore Hall, St John's Smith Square, and Leiston Abbey; future engagements include the complete Well-Tempered Clavier.

Peter's music has been commissioned and performed by artists including Angela Hewitt, the Choirs of St Paul's, Chichester, Manchester and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedrals, Dame Shirley Bassey, opera companies and choral societies; his Handel-inspired opera Pale Shadows was made into a feature film in 2013. Two albums of his solo vocal music, including settings of Spenser's Amoretti for countertenor and piano, and of the Keats Odes, are due for release next year.

Peter's career as a conductor began as Chorus Master at the Royal Danish Opera, and has since involved performances with his own octet, Cries of London, at concert halls and festivals around the UK. Recent engagements have included working as Assistant Conductor at the Royal Opera House (4:48 Psychosis), and in the first opera at Latitude Festival, Cautionary Tales; last year, he conducted the recent release - Ablaze with Light - of William Petter's choral music (5* The Guardian). He teaches conducting at the University of Durham, and works as a vocal coach preparing soloists for appearances with all the principal opera companies and early music ensembles. Peter is Director of Music in Chapel at St John's College, Durham, Director of Music at Hampstead Parish Church and Musical Director of Orlando Chamber Choir. Future engagements include the Verdi and Brahms Requiems, and the St John Passion of J.S. Bach.

Peter read for the BA as a Choral Scholar at King's College, Cambridge, and undertook further study at Trinity College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is currently the Radcliffe Scholar (doctoral) in composition at the University of Durham.