Neil Brand is considered one of the finest improvising piano accompanists in the world, and art he has perfected for over 30 years. He appears throughout the UK and at film festivals and special events around the world and recently established the School of Music and Image at Pordenone Festival to teach young pianists about silent film accompaniment. His fruitful relationship with the BBC Symphony Orchestra resulted in performances of his acclaimed scores for Hitchcock’s silent Blackmail, Asquith’s Underground (released to great acclaim theatrically and on Blu-Ray/DVD by the BFI) and Chaplin’s Easy Street (also released on DVD/Blu-Ray). For radio he created through-scored adaptations of The Wind in the Willows and A Christmas Carol for Orchestra, Choir and Actors commissioned by BBC Radios 3 and 4. Neil is well-known as a TV presenter on BBC4 with his series Sound of Cinema, The Music that Made the Movies, Sound of Song, Sound of Musicals and most recently The Sound of TV. He regular presented on Radio 4’s Film Programme, and is a Fellow of Aberystwyth University, a Visiting Professor of both the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music, was awarded the BASCA Gold Badge in 2016.
