“Tony Lin is one of the most outstanding personalities I have met in the last years, generous and sensitive, an exceptionally talented young musician with deep respect and love for music. I think he belongs to the sort of musician that could help music keep the unique importance it deserves during the dangerous times our art is going through.”
LEWIS EADY CHARITABLE TRUST PROUDLY PRESENTS 'TONY LIN'
Performing at the Lewis Eady Showroom on Wednesday, 5 October 2016 - 7.30pm
PROGRAMME:
Bartók | Piano Sonata Sz 80
Tony Chen Lin | Digression (2016)
Schumann | Humoreske Op 20
Interval
Schubert | Piano Sonata in B flat major D.960
BIO: Born in China, New Zealand pianist and composer Tony Chen Lin has appeared in concerts in Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, France, Singapore, China and New Zealand. He has been regularly invited as young artist at the Semaine Internationale Piano & Musique de Chambre in Switzerland. He returns again this year, appearing for the first time as conductor. In January 2015 Tony appeared as soloist with the Stuttgart State Orchestra as part of the “Rising Stars!” Festival. Recent and upcoming highlights include performances of Bartók’s First Piano Concerto, as well as a New Zealand tour with Chamber Music New Zealand in 2016. As a composer, Tony has had works played by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and Christchurch Youth Orchestra.
Tony’s first encounter with music came at the age of twelve with keyboard lessons, before advancing to piano a year later with Rosemary Stott. At fourteen, Tony made his concerto debut after winning the Christchurch Junior Concerto Competition in 2002.
Tony is the winner of the Fortieth New Zealand National Concerto Competition in 2007, second prize and the “Best Classical Sonata Performance Award” at the 2008 Kerikeri International Piano Competition, and second at the 2011 Lepthien Piano Competition in Freiburg, Germany. He is a four-time recipient of the Lilburn Trust Student Composition Award (2006–2009) as well as the 2007 NZSO Todd Young Composer Award.
Further awards include the Dame Malvina Major Foundation Arts Excellence Award, Christchurch “Young Musician of the Year”, Ruby Hay Pianoforte Scholarship, Leslie Atkinson Prize in Music, Farina Thompson Charitable Trust Music Scholarship, Anne Reid Memorial Scholarship, Michael Toovey Prize, The Kiwi Scholarship, Keith Laugesen Music Scholarship and the Lewis Eady Charitable Trust Prize.
Tony completed his Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours in 2009 at the University of Canterbury, in piano performance with Péter Nagy, Gao Ping and Judith Clark; composition with Chris Cree Brown, Elaine Dobson and Gao Ping. After a year of study at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore, Tony moved to Europe and in 2013 completed his Master of Music under Gilead Mishory at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg in Germany. As part of his graduation concerts, Tony formed his own chamber orchestra to perform as well as conduct a Mozart Piano Concerto from the piano. Tony recently graduated from his Soloist Diploma (Konzertexamen) with distinction, studying with Andreas Immer in Freiburg, while also taking part-time studies with Balázs Szokolay at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Over the past years, Tony has benefited immensely from the guidance and mentorship of the Chilean pianist Edith Fischer.
Tony received further inspiration at numerous masterclasses (including the Lucerne Festival, Emil Gilels Foundation Festival, Cohilia International Arts Festival) with world-renowned pianists and pedagogues such as Jorge Pepi-Alos, Ferenc Rados, Leon Fleisher, Andrzej Jasiński, Dmitri Bashkirov, Robert Levin, Lilya Zilberstein and Jean-Marc Luisada.