Purcell School graduate Yevgeny Sudbin makes a welcome return to The Radlett Centre next week for the first in the new season of series of concerts by Radlett Music Club performing Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto.

Building on the success of his previous Radlett performance in 2007, Yevgeny, who lives in Stanmore, says he sees the event as a “warm up for Wigmore Hall”.

Born in Russia, Yevgeny entered the music school of the St Petersburg Conservatory aged seven, though he tells me he has played piano for “as long as I can remember. I had a very good mentor in Russia who made sure I played different styles and repertoires”.

Via Berlin, he came to live in London and trained at the Purcell School of Music in Bushey, before going on to The Royal Academy of Music.

While a student at the Purcell School, Yevgeny met Sally Wei, whom he whisked off to wed in Italy the morning after playing at The Proms last year. Sally teaches music at St Hilda’s in Bushey.

Obviously meeting Sally while studying music was a high point for Yevgeny but he also praises the calibre of the teaching he received there.

“I was a student at the Purcell from 1997 to 1999 and it’s a great school for musicians. It’s one of a very few specialist schools in the country. If you’re serious about performance it’s a good place to go and it’s quite big so you get to meet a variety of other musicians.”

Rachmaninov is among Yevgeny’s favourite composers but he also admires fellow Russians Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky.

“Scriabin is not as popular but he’s also a wonderful composer. He knows how the piano should sound and gives a very clear idea how the pianist can experiment with different colours.”

The programme includes pieces by Borodin, Rachmaninov and Faure with accompaniment from cellist Alexander Chaushian.

The concert is at The Radlett Centre, Aldenham Avenue, Radlett on Tuesday, September 15 at 8pm. Tickets: 01923 859291, www.radlettcentre.co.uk (£12).