Glenn Riddle studied piano at the University of Melbourne with Mack Jost and Ronald Farren-Price before undertaking post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Music, London with Peter Wallfisch and at the University for Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna with Paul Badura-Skoda. Other significant teachers include Noretta Conci, Ruth Nye and Leslie Howard.
Glenn Riddle has recorded 15 CDs for labels such as ABC Classics, Move Records, Tall Poppies and Hal Leonard, and is also featured on the internationally acclaimed DVD Classical Destinations III performing works of Percy Grainger on Grainger’s own piano, housed in the Grainger Museum. A particular research interest is Australian music and Glenn has recorded works by Andrian Pertout, Linda Kouvaras, William James Schmidt, Stuart Greenbaum and Percy Grainger. His latest CD features the chamber music for piano and strings by Australian composer Christine McCombe. He has recently commissioned a set of piano works by British-based Australian composer Peter Wilson, whose Three Preludes he premiered in 2021.
Glenn Riddle performs extensively both in Australia and internationally as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. His performances have taken him to the USA, Europe, South-East Asia, China, New Zealand and throughout Australia. He has performed extensively with Australia’s leading contemporary chamber opera company Chamber Made, premiering works by Australian composers Michael Smetanin, Malcolm Williamson, Stephen Ingham, Gordon Kerry and Brian Howard, and also with Barry Kosky’s Treason of Images Company.
One of Australia’s leading and most sought-after piano pedagogues, Glenn Riddle’s students have been prize-winners in international competitions in France, USA, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, as well as in all major competitions in Australia. He has worked extensively throughout South-East Asia, China, USA, Australia, and New Zealand presenting recitals, workshops, masterclasses, and examining. He has also been a member of international competition juries in the United States, Greece, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Another focus of Glenn Riddle’s research is the teaching and performance of piano concertos. For ten years he was the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Grainger Ensemble - an orchestra whose focus was providing valuable concerto performance opportunities for young pianists. His students have performed as concerto soloists with leading orchestras and ensembles from Poland, Austria, China, Thailand, and Vietnam as well as with the Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland Symphony Orchestras. Thee of his students have also been recent winners of the MCM Concerto competition, performing concertos by Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff with the MCM Symphony Orchestra at Hamer Hall and the Recital Centre.
Glenn Riddle’s publications include editing 12 highly successful volumes of piano music for the Australian Music Examinations Board. A recent article on teaching gifted children – another area of research - appeared in The Piano Teacher. Internationally, has written for Clavier Magazineandjointly published an article on Sight Reading in the prestigious journal Psychology of Music.
A Lecturer in Keyboard at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and Research Associate at the University of Waikato (NZ), Glenn Riddle is a member of the National Committee of the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference, Federal Examiner for the AMEB, a member of the AMEB’s International Examining Panel, and Senior Music Critic for Australia’s leading online cultural magazine Classic Melbourne.