Piano
Ethan Loch
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Hailing from Scotland, pianist Ethan Loch has been inspiring and connecting with audiences from a young age. Winner of the Keyboard Category of the BBC Young Musician of the Year at the age of 18, Ethan has performed with some of the UK’s most celebrated orchestras and conductors throughout the UK. Born in 2004, Ethan was diagnosed completely blind since birth and as a toddler would be found exploring sound and music on the piano for hours. His formal piano lessons began at the age of four with his mother and now studies with Professor Fali Pavri at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Following Ethan’s mesmerising and emotive BBC Young Musician of the Year performance with the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, orchestral engagements from around the UK quickly followed. From a series of sold-out performances with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with Mark Wigglesworth to engagements with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Ethan has continued to inspire audiences on the concert platform. Equally at home in recital, Ethan has performed as part of Verbier Festival Academy, throughout his homeland in Scotland as well as the rest of the UK. In competition, Ethan has won the Scottish International Youth Piano Competition (2019), 7th James Waterhouse Loretto Piano Competition ‘Advanced’ class (2017), Premio Asoluto prize at the 15th International ‘Giuseppe Sciacca’ awards (2016), was a finalist in the EPTA Belgium International Piano Competition (2018) as well as second place at the first ever Nashville International Chopin Piano Competition (2023).
Ethan’s passion for the piano goes beyond the classical cannon with an enthusiasm for composition as well as jazz and classical improvisation. Ethan’s first CD, Mysterious Pathways Volume One was featured on Classic FM and on a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio documentary featuring his collaboration with the Canadian artist Tony Luciani who painted the cover image. His second album, Mysterious Improvisations 2020, is a collection of one-shot, single-take classical improvisations.
BBC Scotland commissioned the TV documentary Ethan Loch: Making Music Talk in 2024 following him throughout his journey of composing a new concerto. Other TV appearances include The One Show in 2018 and on ITV’s Little Big Shots with Dawn French.
See Ethan Loch perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the RSNO on 27 & 28 March 2026.
