As one of the most searching and individual pianists of our time, Sir Stephen Hough combines formidable virtuosity with deep reflection on what music can express about a life lived. Ahead of his return to The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester – a city central to his formative years – he speaks candidly about memory, vulnerability, programming philosophy, and the irreplaceable power of live performance, offering thoughtful insights into how experience, curiosity and humanity continue to shape his artistry.
Does returning to Manchester, where your musical journey began, feel different each time?
Our lives as touring artists are full of memories, both of hotels and concert halls, friends and colleagues. Because so much of my early life was spent in Manchester these are definitely amplified. It’s very special always to play in the city where I learned so much about music and life.
Your upcoming concert at The Bridgewater Hall features a wide range of composers, including your own music. How do you decide which works belong together in a programme?
There’s a lot of luck involved with creating a successful recital programme, but normally I will build around a particular work or concept. In this instance I wanted to explore the genre of small piano pieces. Indeed, the first half is largely made up of works with the title “Klavierstücke”. These are all individual works, whereas in the second half I play Schumann’s Carnaval where he ties a lot of fragmented pieces together into one celebratory work. And finally my own arrangements of three songs from Mary Poppins – in essence three encores before the encores.
Are there pieces you play now that you couldn’t have performed truthfully earlier in your life?
Every time I return to a work I will think about it differently. It’s part of what repertoire is all about – familiarity changing over time. We bring to every performance something of ourselves, and as the years pass I hope always to bring more of my personal experiences (emotional and practical) to the stage. But I don’t think it’s a rule that an older and more experienced performer will necessarily bring more depth to an interpretation. It’s mostly true, but sometimes there is an astonishing precocious understanding in the way a young person plays a piece … or composes a piece. Think of Schubert!
You’re widely recognised as one of the greatest pianists of your generation, with decades of performing at the highest level. Has this taken an emotional toll, or affected the way you approach music?
I think the greatest performers have something vulnerable about them. There can be pianists who have great brilliance and even superb musical insight who do not move us as much as those where we feel there is an emotional price paid. We all live lives with an emotional toll of one sort or another; perhaps it is the job of the performer to bring that alive on stage so that we can all share something deeply, irreplaceably human together.
Where do you see live performance heading in today’s fast-paced world?
It is possible and practical for us to eat alone, but how much nicer it is to share a meal with friends. The same is true with music. A concert experience, when we are all in the same room at the same time, is unique and precious. Not to mention the sense of risk of musicians playing live on stage, or the sound of the vibrations in a wonderful, large space. The world is only fast-paced only if we allow it to be. One of the vocations of a musician is to remind everyone of that and to facilitate exploring the depth of human life and experience. Our fanciest computers and phones soon end up as landfill; Beethoven lives after 200 years.
Many of your album covers feature you in a hat, often turning your back to the camera. Could you tell us about the story or message behind this choice?
It was a chance photo, taken at the Chicago Art Institute. A photographer friend of mine snapped a shot of me standing in front of a Rothko painting and something just clicked. The image just worked. I suggested it to Hyperion and we’ve used that concept a number of times now.
You can see Sir Stephen Hough live at The Bridgewater Hall on Tuesday 12 May 2026, as he closes the International Concert Series. Book now.