THE JOHN OGDON FOUNDATION

The Foundation was established in 1993 in memory of the legendary British pianist John Ogdon (1937 - 1989).

The aims of the Foundation are:

  • to promote John Ogdon's achievements; as an inspiration to young musicians to continue the traditions of romantic piano and contemporary music which he championed throughout his life;
  • to provide practical assistance to young musicians of today through the award of John Ogdon scholarships in piano and/or composition;
  • to present public concerts and recordings of John Ogdon's compositions to increase public awareness of Ogdon as a composer.

Since its establishment, the foundation has arranged numerous concerts in London, Birmingham, Manchester and elsewhere in Britain involving many well known pianists: John Lill, Peter Donohoe, Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Ovchinikov, Dmitri Alexeev, Nikolai Demidenko, Freddy Kempf as well as Ogdon’s widow Brenda Lucas Ogdon and the first ‘John Ogdon Scholar’ Naomi Iwase.  Three John Ogdon Scholarships have been awarded: one in 1995 at the Royal Northern College of Music; another in 1997 at the Birmingham Conservatory of Music and the third Scholarship, which was a competition between outstanding post graduate students from all the major conservatories of the UK, was won by Martin Sturfält in 2004.  The award was for £5000.

The Foundation is a registered charity.  To fulfill its aims, the Foundation is entirely dependent on donations from the public and on public fund raising events.