Family affair as Mark makes piano debut with orchestra

HANHAM pianist Mark Sterlini Smith is to perform with Keynsham Orchestra on June 10.

He will play the Grieg Piano Concerto in A Minor, while the orchestra will also perform Grieg Symphonic Dances and Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia.

 The concert at St John’s Church, Keynsham, starts at 7.30pm.

Mark, who lives in Hanham, was brought up in Keynsham and attended St John’s C of E Primary School, St Gregory’s Catholic College and then Wellsway’s sixth form.

 After attaining a first-class degree in music at Cardiff University, he was a peripatetic instrumental teacher for Bath and North East Somerset Council before studying for his masters in piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He returned to the West for his PGCE at Bristol University and now teaches at KLB in Wotton-under-Edge.

 Mark usually plays viola for Keynsham Orchestra, which is a real family affair as his wife, mum and dad are also among its musicians.

This will be the first time Mark has played a concerto with an orchestra. 

Tickets for the concert on June 10 are available on the door priced £10, with accompanied children (under 18) free. Refreshments will be served in the interval.