Auntie Elsie’s Upright Piano

Available for over a year

For the first programme in the series ‘Key Moments’, composer and performer John Foxx takes us back to the first piano he ever played, at his childhood home in Chorley, Lancashire. His Auntie Elsie gave him her parlour piano – and it was a treasured piece of furniture with its highly polished walnut veneer, brass candlesticks and ivory keys. As a teenager, sitting in his front room for hours after school, John taught himself to play and started composing his first pieces. These were heavily influenced by hearing Erik Satie’s Gymnopedies played by a friend at art college in Manchester. John tells us the story of his first piano, his introduction to music and how it led to his career as a pop star, pianist, performer and composer. Presented by John Foxx Produced by Anna Horsbrugh Porter A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 3