Publicity photo of Trinity Laban Conservatoire graduate Harriet Stubbs
Pianist Harriet Stubbs – star of the street corner lockdown recitals in West Ken – is launching a new concert series.
Once again, they will include performances from her flat at the corner of Challoner Street and Charleville Road... but now also feature socially distanced concerts from the piano showroom at the old garage site in New Kings Road, opposite Eel Brook Common.
“I’ll be playing on a beautiful grand piano, and through glass doors that open, rather than through my window,” she said.
Covid recitals
Harriet has been a morale-boosting, spirit-raising presence during the pandemic, with her front-room recitals delighting passers-by in West Ken; traffic wardens even forget to dish out tickets, they’re so enraptured!
She returns to public performing on Good Friday – 2 April – at 5pm at Coach House Pianos at 79 New Kings Road, Fulham, and every Friday evening.
Meanwhile, her Wednesday evening 5pm events will once again fill the corner of Charleville Road and Challoner Street with music, playing on a brand new grand piano from her window.
Harriet, 31, who first performed publicly at the age of four (and completed her Grade 8 piano, with distinction, at just seven), usually divides her time between London and New York, when she isn’t giving recitals at the world’s most prestigious venues. But during the pandemic she opted to stay in W14.
Her 200+ lockdown street impromptus have helped spread some welcome relief during the Covid crisis, while also promoting her album – available from her website – entitled Heaven & Hell and featuring singer Marianne Faithfull.
Cyclists stop, neighbours crane out of balconies and fascinated music buffs gather to enjoy the 20-minute performances.
Her thinking, she explained, is to ‘provide a sense of routine to the community’. Sample the magic here.
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