Calling all intermediate and advanced pianists and composers!
World Heart Beat opens its doors this summer for a piano & composition 3-day intensive course at World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens. The course will provide composition and performance master classes, daily instrumental lessons, and the opportunity to workshop compositions with professional players and perform at our state-of-the art auditorium for a final showcase and lunchtime recital.
This course will be led by pianist and composer, Michael Csanyi-Wills
Dates: Tuesday 18th, Wednesday 19th, Thursday 20th August 2026 (10am – 4pm)
Location: World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens, 3 Ponton Road, SW11 7BD
Ages:11+
Level: Grades 6+
Fee: £275*
Register your interest before Friday 24 July** (6:00pm) by emailing siya@worldheartbeat.org with a short description of your musical journey and submissions:
- Composers can submit two examples of their own compositions
- Pianists can submit videos playing two contrasting pieces
Places will be confirmed on Friday 24 July 2026.
*World Heart Beat runs a bursary scheme. Do get in touch if you need financial support to attend the course. More information on: https://worldheartbeat.org/music-academy/bursaries-scholarships/
BIO
Award winning composer and Pianist Michael Csányi-Wills has written works ranging from Chamber music to Choral and Orchestral works to film scores. He was composer in residence with the Welsh Sinfonia from September 2013-2016 and his recent orchestral works have been widely performed throughout the UK and commissions have taken him around Europe, Australia, China, and the USA where in 2016 his Violin concerto was premiered in the Constella Arts Festival, by violinist Tatiana Berman with principal conductor of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Jose Luis Gomez.
Recent works include 2 song cycles “The Long Lost Songs” and “12 Songs On Horizons Far” (funded by the Arts Council/National Lottery), his second symphony written over lockdown in 2020, and a third song cycle set to words by Pushkin called “Songs in times of Pandemic” written for Soprano Ilona Domnich and violinist Charles Mutter. Also released in 2019, “Nocturne for Yodit” was written for Martin Anderson of Toccata Classics, recorded by the Ukrainian Festival Orchestra and conducted by Paul Mann.
Michael has also written scores for over 40 films including documentaries such as “The King of Nerac” and “Maestro” a feature documentary feature about conductor Paavo Järvi and most recently a feature drama such “Sideshow” starring Les Dennis and Anthony head which will have a theatrical release in March 2022. He won BEST SCORE at the Movie Maverick Awards, for his score to the short film “A love story in Milk” and was nominated at the World Soundtrack awards for Best Newcomer. His latest commercial success comes in the form of Meta Quest and Aardman’s “The Grand Getaway, a Wallace and Gromit VR game released in December 2023.
As a pianist, Michael still performs and records regularly, having recorded the complete Weinberg Violin Sonatas with Russian Violinist Yuri Kalnits all released by Toccata Classics to critical acclaim. Volumes 1 & 2 won a “Diapason d”Or” in the French Magazine “Diapason”. In 2021, Volume 3 was nominated for a much coveted ICMA award, and Volume 4 was released in 2022. His latest project is an album of his own Clarinet and Piano music with Principal of the WNO clarinetist Thomas Verity, due for release in 2024 by Rubicon Classics. Also due for a release in 2024, Michael performed Pine Winds with violinist Tatiana Berman by Steve Goss for Deux-Elles Records.