Ro Hancock-Child

Ro Hancock-Child (born 1957) is a British concert pianist, composer, teacher, author, and artist.
Background
She was born Rosemary Anne Child in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, in 1957. When young she studied at Facade Five Arts, a music school in Stoke-on-Trent. She plays piano, harpsichord, church organ, flute, Irish whistle, violin, all sizes of recorder, and she sings.
She attended the Priory Church of England School in Trentham, Staffordshire (1963-68), Thistley Hough Grammar School for Girls (now Thistley Hough High School) in Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent (1968-73), and the City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College (1973-76). She read music at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (1976-79) with Susan Wollenberg and Stephen Banfield, then studied music education at Westminster College, Oxford (1979-80). She holds a Licentiate Diploma (Pianoforte, qualified with distinction) from Trinity College of Music, London.
Since 1975 she has taught music as a classroom teacher and instrumentalist, both privately and in a wide variety of educational establishments, including inner-city London secondary schools, Shrewsbury School, Malvern College, and the University of Keele in Staffordshire, where she also worked as accompanist (1982-1992) for the university's Choral Society, under the directorship of Dr Philip Jones. She appears as a music festival adjudicator, and gives masterclasses.
She is married to Michael Hancock-Child, a lyric baritone and Senior Lecturer in mathematics at the University of Chichester. As a musical partnership they have championed English music for over 20 years, both through her solo recordings and writings, and in joint recitals. She has been composing music since 1997 and has published over 200 compositions. Her solo piano piece Leo (from Zodiac Preludes) is on the Trinity Guildhall examination syllabus for piano (grade 7).
In 2000 she founded Micropress Music, a small-scale publishing enterprise specialising in twentieth century English and American tonal music. She has made commercial compact disc recordings for Naxos/Marco Polo, and Dinmore Records labels. Other recordings on the Micropress Music label have been distributed by Chandos Artist Showcase, including recitals of solo piano music from the traditional piano repertoire, and complete discs of her own compositions. As an accompanist, together with Michael Hancock-Child she has recorded recitals of art song in the English language, most notably by British composers C. Armstrong Gibbs (1889-1960) and Madeleine Dring (1923-1977).
She is the author of two biographies/biocritical studies, A Ballad-Maker: The Life and Songs of C. Armstrong Gibbs (Thames, 1993) and Madeleine Dring: Her Music, Her Life (Micropress Music, 2000/2009). She promotes Dring's music worldwide. She also contributed the articles on C. Armstrong Gibbs in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (co-authored with Stephen Banfield) and the Dictionary of National Biography.
Her other research and writing interests include the paranormal, Asperger syndrome in adults, and artistic inspiration in a musical context. When not engaged in musical activity, she works as a genealogist. She also paints, producing acrylic collages in the style of stained glass, and creates hand-made cards using gilded leaves.
Selected CD recordings
* A Ballad Maker - Songs of C Armstrong Gibbs. Michael Hancock-Child (baritone), Ro Hancock-Child (piano). Label: Marco Polo.
* English Song (5 tracks from A Ballad Maker, included on a 2 cd anthology set). Label: Naxos
* Love and Time - Songs and solo piano music by Madeleine Dring. Luise Horrocks (soprano), Michael Hancock-Child (baritone), Ro Hancock-Child (piano). Label: Dinmore Records
Selected books
*A Ballad-Maker: The Life and Songs of C. Armstrong Gibbs. Thames Publishing, 1993. 87 pages. ISBN 978-0905210414
*Madeleine Dring: Her Music, Her Life, 2nd revised edition. Micropress, 2009. 132 pages ISBN 978-0953789320
*A Little Bit Telescopic - living with a reluctant psychic. Micropress, 2003. 234 pages. ISBN 0-9537893-1-4
*MEDS: how our NHS destroyed my health. Micropress 2010. 354 pages. ISBN 0953789330

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