Biography

Nominated as a 2022 Rising Star Artist by Classic FM, Iyad was a prize-winner at the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International Auditions in 2021.

Highlights of Iyad’s 23/24 season include a return to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2, performances at the Berlin Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Lammermuir Festival and Barber Institute Birmingham, plus a series of recitals at the Leicester International Music Festival performing the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas alongside newly  commissioned pieces  inspired by these great works. 

In the 2022/23 season Iyad returned to the Wigmore Hall, as soloist and chamber musician, and gave recitals in the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham International Piano series, Perth Concert Hall and Bath Festivals. Previous concert highlights include recitals at the Brighton Festival, Lake District Summer Music Festival, Bridgewater Hall & Stoller Hall in Manchester (broadcast by BBC Radio 3), Leeds Town Hall, the Laeiszhalle (Hamburg) and Festival Musique D’Abord (France).  

Further afield he has given recitals at Steinway Hall (New York), Castleton Festival (Virginia) and Dubai Opera House.  In 2020 he contributed to a BBC Arabic documentary ‘London Lockdown’, in which he took part as a character and recorded the soundtrack for the music. 

Iyad regularly collaborates with oboist Armand Djikoloum, with forthcoming  concerts across the UK including at the Lammermuir Festival and Leeds International Concert series. 

As soloist Iyad has appeared with leading orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Cairo and Amman Symphony Orchestras.   

In 2022 Iyad co-founded and launched a new specialist music school, the Mashrek Academy of Music, with the Mashrek International School in Amman. The Academy welcomes students from across Jordan, discovering and nurturing a new generation of creators and musicians.

Born in Amman, the Jordanian-Palestinian pianist, Iyad studied at Chetham’s School of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where he won the College’s prestigious Gold Medal.  He completed his International Artist Diploma at the RNCM in 2019 and in the same year became a City Music Foundation Artist. In 2021 he was made an Associate of the Royal Northern College of Music (ARNCM).

Iyad Sughayer is an inaugural YCAT Concordia Artist.

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