Before sitting down at the Piano for his first lesson, Jon always had great passion for music. At age 15 he took to piano with great tenacity, reaching grade 7 standard within a year and at 18 securing a place at University College Chichester. At the College he started tuition with Chizumi Watanabe-Hollingworth, a student of the renowned John Ogdon, and confirmed his place in the world of classical piano.

After finishing his degree, he went on to complete a performance diploma at the Guildhall, performing Beethoven, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich – one of who became a firm favourite in his repertoire. It was at this point that Jon’s music career took an unexpected turn into the world of electronic dance music and DJing, during which he travelled around Europe, playing to crowds of up to 10,000 strong!

Inevitably, the piano called him back and before long he was blowing the dust off his beloved Rachmaninov books and starting to practice again. After a few local competition wins, he went on to study under Yuri Patterson-Olenich and the path was re-established. Jon has recently played sold-out performances in his hometown of Brighton and has gathered great acclaim for performing his own rendition of Rachmaninov’s mighty Second Piano Sonata.

In more recent years, Jon broadened his musical pursuits to include teaching. In 2008 he set up a small piano studio. In 2015, with a string of sell out shows to his name, he was honoured as a Steinway artist, and had the space, time, and tools to establish himself fully in the educational side of music. In 2019 he opened the Jon Byrne Piano School, which houses 2 soundproofed music studios, a beautiful Steinway and two giant Leonberger dogs!

It was around this time that Jon made connection with Belltree Music Therapy . Jon nearly lost his life to addiction in 2004 but managed to turn his life around with the help of two things: music and 12-step recovery fellowships. One of the founding principles of 12-step work is to freely give away what you have received. Finding Belltree felt serendipitous; Belltree now operates from the Capra Studio at the school, where it continues to grow and attain charity status. Jon has become one of the directors of Belltree - a perfect way to combine the skills attained from his experience of 12-step committee work and his passion for music and recovery, in all its forms.

Qualifications

• ABRSM Grade 8

• ABRSM Theory Grade 5

• BA Mus

• PG Dip Guildhall