Paul Crossley (Piano)
Born: 17th May 1944, Dewsbury, Yorkshire
Nationality: British
Born in Yorkshire, his piano teacher was Fanny Waterman in Leeds. While a student at Oxford University, he was discovered by Olivier Messiaen and his wife Yvonne Loriod, who heard him play and immediately invited him to come to Paris to study with them. In 1968 he won the Messiaen Competition in Royan, France. Crossley is particularly associated with the music of Messiaen and British composers such as Michael Tippett, Nicholas Maw and George Benjamin. Tippett wrote his third and fourth Piano sonatas specifically with Crossley in mind. His extensive discography includes the piano works of Tippett, Fauré, Debussy and Ravel and the Fauré Violin sonatas with Arthur Grumiaux.