JAMES Rhodes is a dude. A classical pianist wrapped in starry celebrity. At a performance in Hay last month, the Hollywood actor Benedict Cumberbatch led the standing ovation. Fans include Stephen Fry. Why? Rhodes has reinvented the image of classical music. This July, he stars as Harrogate International Festival’s Artist in Resident.

“We need to work harder to get to that place where we’re sharing the music, not focussed on what to wear, or whether to cough or not or clap at the wrong place and all that bollocks – music comes first. I have high hopes for classical music in this age, he said.”

It’s an age, he admits, in Attention Deficit, but he believes teenagers can relate to the great composers.

“People want instant buzz but we consistently in this country under estimate teenagers, and children. My experience with primary kids is if you can find a piece of music that they connect with, they fall in love with it.”

James is doing a documentary for Channel Four in September set in schools following his campaign to reclaim unused instruments and take them into primary schools to find new loving homes.

“I hate the words classical music, music is music, whether it’s Beethoven or Tinie Tehmpah it’s the same stuff, and the same notes. There’s a misperception classical belongs to other people, that it’s hard. It can be extremely accessible. It’s the form around it that can be dry. But if I’m playing a piece by Bach I talk about how he slept with groupies or was a drunken, madman, workaholic with three siblings dead by the age of four, orphaned at 10 and then, his wife, the great love of his life died. He was surrounded by grief, than he wrote this musical cathedral built in her memory. There’s a story there, and you hear that and it makes more sense. The music is like a soundtrack you can make the story to in your head, that’s the point of music for me, you go switch off in a dark room and you’re not inundated with tweets, or Facebook likes, or ads, you can close your eyes and escape, which we all need to do from time to time.”

Dubbed the Russell Brand of piano, his own life story is almost as epic as the great composers he adores: abused as a child, suffering mentally and physically, he wasn’t the typical child prodigy despite his passion for piano. He ended up in a job in the City before sending a bottle of champagne to the Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov, and had a brief tutorage, but ended up institutionalised for mental illness as his demons caught up. He overcame them, marking the moment by dragging a grand piano up a cliff to perform at the famous suicide spot, Beachy Head, where he once contemplated jumping.

Has he reinvented himself? “No I feel l got rid of all the shit and now is a bonus time and I ‘m enjoying everything, which is rather lovely. I don’t really see it as celebrity and success, it’s just a job that suits me well and I would do it if I won the Euromillions on Friday, I feel incredibly lucky.”

His drive comes from the ‘sheer terror’ of getting concerts right, but also his pure love of music.

“The music is just absolutely extraordinary and there’s a reason we’re still playing and listening to it 200 or 300 years after they’ve been written. I hate the idea that musicians are under more pressure or work harder than others. In any job you want to do well, you need that amount of commitment and dedication, if you work God forbid in the City, or as a teacher, or a journalist, I don’t think there’s anything particularly special about musicians, even if they think they are.”

He believes we’re all ‘striving for that level of immortality’

“For every Beethoven there were thousands in obscurity. I always say categorically they were the original rock stars, they overcame extraordinary circumstances. Beethoven was beaten almost to death twice by his father as a teenager, he lost his children, wife…Schubert had syphilis, they battled against instrumental odds, poverty, grief, illness, and they died young, but they’re still alive, as their music is played all over the world. That’s an incredible story that legacy; they went through shit but were raised to the top.”

“I’ve always believed passionately you can put 100 people who’ve never heard classical piece and play them 25 minute Sonata and the majority will be with you all the way. We need to work harder to get to that place where we’re sharing the music, not focussed on what to wear, or whether to cough or not or clap at the wrong place – bollocks – music comes first. I have high hopes for classical music in this age.

For tickets, £12-£45, for the concert at the Royal Hall in Harrogate on Friday, July 25, call 01423 562 303 or go to harrogateinternationalfestivals.com.