John Shakespeare Dyson

John Shakespeare Dyson joined the Cornucopia Arts Diary as classical music reviewer in 2018.

A native of Tameside born in 1950, John Dyson started improvising on the piano as soon as he could physically reach the keys. He took piano lessons first at the Northern School of Music, then at the Royal Manchester College of Music, where he studied piano and composition as a Junior Exhibitioner in the years before these two institutions combined to form the Royal Northern College of Music. In Manchester, he also played the French horn and sang in various choirs; these activities continued when he went up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read English for Tripos Part I and Music for Tripos Part II.

After university, he moved to London and took lessons in piano and composition as a part-time student at the Guildhall School of Music (eventually gaining an L.G.S.M. Diploma in Piano Teaching) while earning his living as a croupier at the Playboy and Clermont Clubs.

In 1976 he set out on a series of travels that eventually took him to İstanbul, and has lived there ever since. After teaching English and working in educational publishing for many years, he is now a freelance translator, author and editor.

He is currently the author of Cornucopia’s Musical Shares blog.