John at the Concert Grand Piano
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JOHN BROGDEN began his music career at a young age, receiving daily tuition from his mum, a professional singer and music teacher. He also enjoyed regular ‘jam’ sessions with his dad on the saxophone. He began performing on stage in his parents' band from the age of eight, playing piano, organ and synthesizers. He performed music from the charts through to classical, latin and jazz. This provided him with a diverse knowledge and appreciation of music and developed the essential skill of improvisation, building the bridge between the academic aspects and the art.
He received extra tuition from top professionals such as Tony Back and Dave McKee and won numerous competitions. John attended Redroofs Theatre School until the age of 16, where actress Kate Winslet was in his class.
Feeling uninspired by the usual classical and jazz repertoire, John was introduced to the music of composer David Hellewell. Having never heard anything like it before, John became enthralled and captivated by this unique and exciting new music. In 1987, John was accepted as a private student of Hellewell and his dad drove him 160 miles for each lesson on a regular basis.
At age sixteen, John began teaching piano, organ and keyboards as a master teacher and performer of Hellewell's music. In 1991, John established M-D Music Productions to record Hellewell's works. His debut album Land of Fire was released in 2002. John is the sole performer and arranger of Land of Fire, and using piano, synthesizers and keyboards performs the parts of all the instruments featured.
John says that he feels the numinous in Hellewell’s music which expresses the depth, meaning and honesty found only in the music of the past masters. This is why he has chosen to dedicate his musical career to David's music.
In 2005 John was honoured and delighted to have David as his best man for his marriage to his wife Louisa. David composed a piece “Wedding March” especially for the occasion. David’s music was used throughout the wedding ceremony and was performed and recorded in advance by John on acoustic grand piano.
John is taking on an increasing role in the management, future development and direction of M-D Music Publications. Presently, John and David are working together on forthcoming audio releases and various other projects including acoustic recordings of Hellewell's piano works performed on grand piano by John.
Aside from his musical skills, John is also a Wing Chun Kung Fu instructor (the martial art studied by Bruce Lee), giving regular classes to those interested in this fascinating art. John is a student of Grandmaster Ip Chun. He is a fully certified instructor with the Wing Chun Ip Chun Academy (Hong Kong), the Ving Tsun Athletic Association (HK) and The Wing Chun Federation (UK).
For more information about John Brogden, Land of Fire and to listen to performances, please visit www.JOHNBROGDEN.com
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