Ethan was born in 2004 and diagnosed completely blind since birth. As a toddler, he
would explore
the
piano for hours imitating his first inspiration, Rowlf the piano-playing dog from the
Muppet Show.
His
other inspiration, the DVD "Horowitz in Vienna", he played relentlessly.
His formal piano lessons began at age 4 with his mother, but he now studies with Fali
Pavri (Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland). He has been composing since early childhood and loves to
tell
imaginative
stories in his compositions.
Ethan's first major concert was at a Music in Lanark event where he also debuted his
first major
composition work, "Wallace at Lanark" illustrating the life of Scottish hero William
Wallace.
Videos
here
and
here.
Ethan was the focus of a BBC radio documentary called
'Batman and Ethan'
about the freedom a blind child can experience through working with the talented teacher
of the
blind, Daniel Kish.
In 2016 Ethan was awarded his first major International award at the Vatican. He received the Premio Asoluto prize at the 15th International 'Giuseppe Sciacca' awards in Rome, for his ability to create music "full of colours" as an inspiration to all.
In 2017 Ethan won the
7th James Waterhouse Loretto Piano Competition
"Advanced" class. As part of that
prize, he performed at Steinway Hall in London.
Ethan has twice participated in the wonderful Festival of Chopin in Mazovia, Poland. He
won the 3rd and then the 4th categories. He performed at Chopin's house and later for
the Warsaw Music
Society.
Ethan was a finalist in the EPTA Belgium International Piano Competition in 2018.
In 2019 Ethan received his ATCL (Associate of Trinity College London) with a mark of 92/100 at the age of 14.
In July 2019 Ethan won the Scottish International Youth Piano Competition as part of the Moray Prize at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Over covid lockdown 2020, every Saturday at 8PM Ethan showcased a short 15-minute concert on his YouTube channel. He recorded 44 concerts over the year.
In 2022, after a year of competing Ethan won the 2022 BBC Young Musician Keyboard
Category Final
with the judges saying, “Ethan found orchestral colours on the piano like no-one else
can.”
In 2023 Ethan was a prize winner at the Verbier Academy in Switzerland.
Later in 2023 Ethan won second place at the first ever Nashville International Chopin Piano Competition. Nashville International Chopin Piano Competition Final 2023 .
Ethan was featured on The List, Top 100 People to Watch in 2022. Link to article
Ethan was featured in a wide ranging interview in the Music Teacher Magazine which can be read here Link to article
In the summer of 2023 Ethan was awarded a place at the Verbier Academy as a piano soloist.
Ethan's first CD,
'Mysterious Pathways
Volume One'
was featured on Classic FM and on a
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
radio documentary featuring his collaboration with the Canadian artist
Tony Luciani
who painted the cover image.
His second album,
Mysterious Improvisations 2020
, is a collection of one-shot, single-take classical improvisations.
He has made three TV appearances to date. The first was on the One Show, and the second in May 2018 on the ITV show Little Big Shots where he enjoyed chatting to Dawn French and performing both on his own and as a duet with young Romanian singer and harpist Daria. His third appearance was on the BBC Young Musician 2022 competition where he won the category final (keyboard) and performed the Chopin Piano Concerto No.2. The final was won by percussionist Jordan Ashman.
Ethan is busy studying the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and playing around the UK in both solo and concerto work. He has concerts in 2024 with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with Mark Wigglesworth, Manchester Camerata Orchestra as a guest artist and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In 2025 he is already booked to perform with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Please see the events page for details.