www.marktanner.info

GILLIAN POZNANSKY & MARK TANNER

Flute & Piano

 

 (all images are credited to John Knee)

 

THE POZNANSKY-TANNER DUO

The Poznansky-Tanner Duo have been delighting audiences around the world for a number of years with attractive, accessible classical music programmes. They have given many recitals aboard cruise ships (notably for Cunard, P&O and Saga), where their inimitable blend of musicianship and good-humoured presentation always insures a warm reception. In the UK they have appeared in many venues, with a recent Wigmore Hall appearance alongside a recital at the Frome Festival. The Duo is available for concerts, functions, weddings and corporate work: click on the Contact link at the bottom of this page. Further images and potted biographies of Gillian, Mark and the Duo can be downloaded for your convenience by clicking on the Publicity page of this website.

 

GILLIAN POZNANSKY, FLAUTIST

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gillian Poznansky

Growing up in a Lancashire mill town in the 1960s might seem an unpromising start for a young musician. For the dark, menacing mills and forbidding Pennine landscape, coupled with pervading urban depravity, hardly encouraged an air of optimism. And yet, handed a time-ravaged school instrument at the age of twelve, Gillian was immediately smitten. Inspired by a visit by the revelatory ‘Atarah’s Band’ (and further enthused by regular visits to the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé Orchestras) Gillian quickly found herself beckoned into a world of music.

Atarah Ben-Tovim continued to be a powerful source of inspiration for Gillian, whose attendance at the irrepressible Padiham weekend flute courses proved to be key landmarks. Greatly influenced by flute players Jean-Pierre Rampal, Gareth Morris and James Galway, Gillian went on to study with Clare Southworth, Douglas Townsend, Simon Priestly and Nicholas Vallis-Davies. More recently, Gillian has participated in masterclasses with Susan Milan and Wissam Boustany. The unsurpassable energy and musings of Wissam, Atarah and Mark continue to be a rich source of support and encouragement. Gillian Poznansky plays a handmade flute by Stephen Wessel.

 

Gillian Poznansky

 

Appearing around the world with pianist Mark Tanner, Gillian, mother of seven, is keen to show that it is possible to balance family life with that of a successful performing musician. Alongside a busy duo schedule, Gillian is a freelance orchestral player and teacher. She also examines for the International Baccalaureate Organisation, OCR, AQA and Edexcel Boards and was recently appointed to the Professional Development Mentor Panel for ABRSM. In 2009, Gillian and Mark appeared at Wigmore Hall in London and the Frome Festival, Somerset. In 2010 they are performing as guest artistes on five cruises and giving masterclasses at Prussia Cove, Cornwall.

A CD entitled Undiscovered Islands, The Music of Graham Lynch (PRCD 1024), has recently been released by Priory Records and was recently featured on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction programme, hosted by Verity Sharp.

The disc has already attracted the following accolades:

 

"Expertly played by Gillian Poznansky and Mark Tanner"

GRAMOPHONE, DECEMBER 2009

 

"Flautist Gillian Poznansky also responds to its melancholy. Her tone is clear and never shrill, and her playing is flexible...Mark Tanner's smooth, dark piano sound still admits many shades of colour and light, and lends the music the sensitivity it deserves."

INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW, DECEMBER 2009            (AN IRR 'OUTSTANDING' DISC OF THE MONTH)

 

"The performances are excellent. This is quite a find."

PAN MAGAZINE, BRITISH FLUTE SOCIETY, DECEMBER 2009

 

"The playing is consistently good from Tanner and Poznansky; these performers play with a sense of understanding of the music, providing an emotional context and atmospheric mood with a good sense of communication with the listener."

CARLA REES, MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

 

"Delicate, subtle and mesmerisingly impressionistic music...The flute in Mediterranean is fruitily played and recorded – apt in a work of flighty warmly-bathed fantasy...superbly done by Poznansky."

ROB BARNETT, MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

  

"...so sensitively performed"

CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2009

 

"...mesmerizingly played by Gillian Poznansky...played by Mark Tanner with a bewitching sensitivity for colour and atmosphere."

INTERNATIONAL PIANO MAGAZINE, OCT/NOV 2009

 

“The playing by both the pianist and the flautist sounds excellent...sympathetic to the mind of the composer"

JOHN FRANCE, MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

 

“A fine recording by Pianist Mark Tanner and Flautist Gillian Poznansky. They’re a balanced partnership who deploy careful, sensitive tone colours to expose the poignant, elegiac delicacy of Lynch’s music.”

WWW.BRIGHTCECILIA.COM

 

 

 

 

 

 

SELECTED DUO EVENTS: 2010/11

 

For Mark Tanner's biographical details go to the About Mark page, or follow the Publicity link below.

Go to Contact page.

Go to Publicity page.


 

 

 

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