Kate Loder (1825–1904) was a child-prodigy pianist from a family of musicians in Bath, in south-west England. She was one of the first students at the Royal Academy of Music in London and one of Britain’s brightest young virtuosi. But Victorian prejudice thwarted a promising career: her well-to-do husband would not allow her to perform in public. Instead, as Lady Thomson, she became an important teacher and society hostess – and she continued to compose, including two sets of virtuoso studies that sit downstream from Chopin and Schubert.

Ian Hobson, pianist and conductor, began his international career in 1981 when he won the Leeds International Piano Competition. He is in increasing demand as a conductor, particularly for performances in which he doubles as a pianist. He made his debut in this capacity in 1996 with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and also performs extensively as pianist-conductor with Sinfonia da Camera, a group he formed in 1984 and which quickly gained international recognition through its recordings. Ian Hobson appears on eleven other Toccata Classics recordings as pianist or conductor, and further recordings in both capacities are under discussion.