Recent Highlights

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• Featured on BBC Radio 3's The Essay: Healing Musicians (Ep. 2, Stephen Marquiss)

• Speaker at UK Music & Drama Education Expo (2026, 2023, 2020)

• Speaker at NCKP International Piano Conference (2025)

• Piano Course Tutor at Jackdaws Music Education Trust (2017–present)

• Lecturer & Performer at Scrutopia Summer School (2023–2025)

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The Story​

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Stephen began studying the piano aged seven in his home town of Frome in England, U. K.

 

Whilst never a prodigy, he was deeply musical and intensely curious. At eleven he won a full scholarship to music school on the strength of his musicianship. During these early years he won the prize for the highest ABRSM exam mark in the country, reached the final of the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists and progressed to the televised stage of BBC Young Musicians.

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From the outside, Stephen’s early musical life looked like a dream start. But behind the prizes and performances, things were beginning to go wrong. Recurring repetitive strain injury and mounting technical barriers gradually undermined his confidence. At eighteen, Stephen left school feeling far removed from the young musician he had once been.

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Stephen went on to read Music at Cambridge, where the spark for a new musical direction was lit. A bursary took him to New York for lessons with Sophia Rosoff (1921-2017), a student of and collaborator with the pioneering piano thinker, Abby Whiteside (1881–1956). Whiteside devoted her life to uncovering fresh solutions for her students that struggled.

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Stephen found himself asking the same questions. Over the next twenty-five years he gradually rebuilt his playing from the ground up. Crucially, some of the most transformative breakthroughs came when he stepped away from his formal training: playing pop covers, learning to play by ear from scratch and performing in a wide range of real-world contexts. What began as personal necessity became a deep curiosity about how pianists truly progress.

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Piano Portals

 

This long journey ultimately led Stephen to create Piano Portals: Rethink Technique, a groundbreaking online school dedicated to holistic piano technique.

 

The approach:

• encourages critical thinking about received ideas in piano pedagogy

• emphasises Abby Whiteside’s concept of emotional rhythm — the body’s natural response to musical flow

• dissolves technical problems through awareness and coordination rather than drills or dogma

• highlights overlooked elements of efficient technique — “Elephants in the Practice Room”

• draws inspiration from diverse fields including sport, dance and martial arts​

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Piano Portals now supports pianists and teachers around the world seeking fresh approaches to technique and musical freedom.

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Today

 

Stephen now divides his time between performing, teaching, creating online courses, writing and speaking. Performing-wise, he specialises in bespoke piano music for life’s important moments, such as weddings, funerals and other occasions. He also creates bespoke musical birthday greetings.

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Learning to play the piano to his own satisfaction — something that had once seemed impossible — only happened in Stephen’s 40s. He  counts it among his proudest achievements.

 

Stephen's educational work is driven by a simple aim: to empower pianists at all stages to think critically about technique, discover musical joy and find solutions in unexpected places.

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Outside Music

 

Outside music, Stephen enjoys singing, qigong, photography, walking and cycling.

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