Mark Hooper

Mark grew up in Brisbane, Australia, and with eminent musician Robert Boughen’s encouragement and recommendation, was awarded a scholarship to the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. In his final year at the Conservatorium, he was then awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London where he studied piano with Peter Wallfisch and harpsichord with Ruth Dyson. During his 34 years abroad, Mark lived firstly in London, then spent a year in Canada, before settling in Oxford. Prior to returning to Australia in 2012, Mark taught piano at Oxford University for six years and ran a very successful series of educational children’s concerts, which introduced young children to musical instruments and music. Whilst there, he also established the ‘Concertiade’ series of concerts, which still run today.

Mark was invited to spend a year at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada, along with some of the world’s most experienced teachers and talented young performers. He has worked closely with world class musicians such as Jacqueline de Pre, Mitsuko Uchida, Charles Rosen, Peter Maxwell Davies, Andre Tchaikovsky and Kenneth Gilbert. He has also performed in concert with Yehudi Menuhin, Peter Wallfisch, Tamas Vasary and Zara Nelsova. He performed Steve Reich’s work for six pianos in Banff, coached by Steve Reich himself, and had the joy of playing piano duets with Mitsuko Uchida in her home in London, and being Tamas Vasary’s rehearsal pianist for concertos. His teachers, Leah Horowitz, Peter Wallfisch, Ruth Dyson and Bernice Lehman, all played crucial roles in encouraging Mark in his career and fostering his deep job of playing piano.

Mark’s debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall in 1985 preceded numerous solo recitals at such venues as London’s Purcell Room, and Oxford’s famous Holywell Music Room and the Jacqueline de Pre Music Building. For many years, he performed annually in Berlin and Potsdam, and at the Musikhalle in Hamburg. Mark has performed concertos by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Saint Saens, and the complete voilin sonatas of Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms.

Mark is a regular face around all corners of classical music in Queensland. Whether it be teaching, presenting, recording, concertising, adjudicating, or workshopping, his engaging manner, humour, and knowledge is inspiring. He runs a successful teaching studio in Brisbane, passing on a lifetime of acquired wisdom and fostering a love of music in a select group of gifted and talented students. He currently serves as a mentor and President of the Queensland Music Teachers’ Association (QMTA).