Lloyd is an accomplished virtuoso pianist and accompanist, having performed at many prestigious venues, accompanied instrumentalists and choirs, and is frequently in demand as an accompanist for music exams. He has also recorded solo CDs of music by Alkan and Bortkiewicz.
Accompanist
Lloyd is an experienced piano accompanist. He currently plays for Vocal Expressions Ladies Choir near Holmfirth, and previously worked as accompanist at the Bristol Schools Chamber Choir. He also has experience accompanying dance students, having previously worked at the Northern Ballet School in Manchester. Lloyd has accompanied many instrumental and vocal soloists and worked on a wide range of repertoire, with styles as diverse as baroque opera, German lieder and Cole Porter. He has accompanied solo concerts at Australia House, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and at St George’s Brandon Hill and the Colston Hall in Bristol.
Lloyd is based in Glossop in the Derbyshire Peak District, and is frequently in demand as an accompanist for music exams. He has experience accompanying all ages, at all levels, from Grade 1 through to Diploma standard. To enquire about his rates and availability, please use the contact page.
In addition to accompanying music exams, Lloyd is available to serve as a stand-in accompanist or conductor for choirs in the North West of England. He is an excellent sight reader, and has a wide knowledge of the choral repertoire.
Solo pianist
Lloyd has performed as soloist at many prestigious venues including St Martin in the Fields and St James’ Piccadilly in London, the Colston Hall and St George’s Brandon Hill in Bristol, and the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. He made his concerto debut playing Martin Ellerby’s ‘Cabaret Concerto’ with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band at the Royal Northern College of Music, and was also highly commended in the college’s own concerto competition in 2010.
Since graduating, he has given many solo recitals around the UK and taken part in many lunchtime concert series. This has seen him perform at St Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury, Doncaster Museum, and cathedrals in Lincoln, Wakefield, Sheffield and Bristol.
Review of a piano recital by Lloyd Buck, partnered by Stephenie Leung
Review of Lloyd’s piano recital sponsored by the Barnby choir, Wilmslow, June 2015
The audience was treated to a wide-ranging programme of solos and duets, including a duet by Mozart composed when he was just eight years old, Debussy’s Petite Suite, items by Chopin, Bortkiewicz (a neglected 19th century composer championed by Lloyd) and a contemporary Chinese composer, plus a work by Lloyd himself.
CD recordings (click image below for more information)
Watch Lloyd play Charles-Valentin Alkan
Alkan: Trois Andantes Romantiques from Adventures with Alkan
Alkan: 4th movement of Symphony for Solo Piano, recorded at live concert
‘Scherzo Focoso’ Op.34 : Lloyd Buck plays Charles-Valentin Alkan
Review of Lloyd Buck’s Recital at the Royal College of Music, March 2006
A goodly contingent of (Alkan Society) members attended Lloyd Buck’s recital, which in fact formed part of his final examination at the Royal College of Music. The programme chosen was challenging both in terms of interpretation and technique. Beginning with two Bach transcriptions – the Siciliano from the BWV 1001 Flute Sonata in Alkan’s version, and the Prelude and Fugue BWV 543 in Liszt’s – it continued with Mozart’s E flat sonata K282 and Prokofiev’s First Sonata, before ending with two very different examples of Alkan’s music; the well-known Barcarolle from the Op. 65 Chants, and the hardly-ever performed Scherzo focoso, op. 34.
The two transcriptions, Alkan’s pastoral in nature, Liszt’s virtuosic – an alternation of character which ran through the recital – gave Buck the opportunity to demonstrate from the start his thoughtful concern with textures and transparency, coupled with admirable finger work. Heroic as was his performance of the Prokofiev, the Mozart lingers longer in the mind, cool but sensitive.
The Scherzo focoso, Alkan’s opus 34, was characterised by Ronald Smith as ‘a remorseless path to pianistic immolation for all but the most invincible techniques’; he surmises that it may have been originally intended for the minor key studies, op.39. This piece, extraordinarily obsessive even by it’s composer’s standards, is yet far more than a note-spinning virtuoso display. Alkan was clearly sensitive to many types of fire – as we can hear in the slightly comic L’incendie au aillage voisin of the op. 35 studies – and this piece also displays many varieties, from flickering flames to white hot intensity – apart from the implicit diabolic fires of the soul. Carrying this piece off is not just a challenge for the fingers. The relentless pedal point of the closing pages, for example, tests the listener’s tenacity to the limit, as well as the player’s. Buck’s performance was triumphant and won a correspondingly enthusiastic response from his audience…..Buck’s exuberance, clear enthusiasm and immolation-proof technique fully justified his decision to make this the climax of his recital.
Extracted from the review of this performance by David Conway of the British Alkan Society – www.alkansociety.org