Roderick Elms studied at the Royal Academy of Music and enjoys a multi-faceted career as a performer and composer.
He appears in concerts and recordings with most of Britain’s major orchestras as both a principal keyboard player and soloist. He has broadcast regularly for the BBC for more than forty years and has made many solo recordings with the BBC Concert, Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras. These include de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain, Frank Martin’s Ballade for Piano & Orchestra, Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto (a Classic FM favourite) and many of the other ‘Denham’ concertos.
For several years, he was the London pianist for the eminent cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and organist to the London Symphony Orchestra. In this role he recorded an extensive list for EMI and Chandos, including all the major oratorios of Elgar and the award-winning recording of Britten’s War Requiem. A recording of organ music by Percy Whitlock was released by Herald in 2010. Television and film scores on which he has performed include Poirot, Aliens, Dangerous Liaisons and the complete The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Roderick Elms’ compositions and arrangements are performed widely both in this country and North America and are published by Camden Music, London. In 2006 Dutton-Epoch released an album of his instrumental music (A Little Fall-ish!) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and an album of his Christmas music (Festive Frolic) was released on the Naxos label in 2007 performed by the RPO and the Joyful Company of Singers. A CD of his chamber music (Moody Moves) was released by Herald in 2012 featuring the Aurora Ensemble and the pianist Joanna Smith, and a new Christmas CD (A Windy Christmas) was released in 2019 conducted by the late Bramwell Tovey.