Concert 3 Guest Artists
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Konstantin Shamray
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Described as an exhilarating performer with faultless technique and fearless command of the piano, Australian based pianist Konstantin Shamray enjoys performing on an international level with the world’s leading orchestras and concert presenters.
In 2008, Konstantin burst onto the concert scene when he won First Prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition. He is the first and only competitor to date in the 40 years of the competition to win both First and People’s Choice Prizes, in addition to six other prizes.
He then went on to win First Prize at the 2011 Klavier Olympiade in Bad Kissingen, Germany, and, he was awarded the festival’s coveted Luitpold Prize for “outstanding musical achievements”.
Since then, Konstantin performs extensively throughout the world. In Australia recent and future highlights include engagements with the Sydney Symphony (with Umberto Clerici) Australian Chamber Orchestra, West Australia Symphony (with Dmitri Matvienko) Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (with Andrew Litton) Tasmania Symphony (with Otto Tausk) Queensland Symphony (with Benjamin Northey) and the Dunedin Symphony (with Umberto Clerici).
Konstantin has also enjoyed highly successful consecutive season national tours with Musica Viva with players of ANAM directed by Sophie Rowell, and most recently with Avi Avital. Outside of Australia he has performed with the Russian National Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, Orchestre National de Lyon, Prague Philharmonia, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic.
Chamber music plays a strong role in Konstantin’s musical career and collaborations include engagements with the Australian String Quartet, Richard Tognetti, Satu Vanska, Li-Wei Qin, Kristian Winther, Daniel Muller-Schott, Jeroens Berwaerts, Kristof Barati and Andreas Brantelid to name a few.
He is a firm favourite at the Ukaria Cultural Centre appearing frequently each season. Konstantin is also a regular guest artist at the Adelaide Festival, the International Piano Series and the Melbourne Recital Centre. He performs frequently for Piano+ and was appointed their Artistic Director of their OutWest Festival.
Konstantin is also Senior Lecturer in Piano at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne.
In 2008, Konstantin burst onto the concert scene when he won First Prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition. He is the first and only competitor to date in the 40 years of the competition to win both First and People’s Choice Prizes, in addition to six other prizes.
He then went on to win First Prize at the 2011 Klavier Olympiade in Bad Kissingen, Germany, and, he was awarded the festival’s coveted Luitpold Prize for “outstanding musical achievements”.
Since then, Konstantin performs extensively throughout the world. In Australia recent and future highlights include engagements with the Sydney Symphony (with Umberto Clerici) Australian Chamber Orchestra, West Australia Symphony (with Dmitri Matvienko) Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (with Andrew Litton) Tasmania Symphony (with Otto Tausk) Queensland Symphony (with Benjamin Northey) and the Dunedin Symphony (with Umberto Clerici).
Konstantin has also enjoyed highly successful consecutive season national tours with Musica Viva with players of ANAM directed by Sophie Rowell, and most recently with Avi Avital. Outside of Australia he has performed with the Russian National Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, Orchestre National de Lyon, Prague Philharmonia, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic.
Chamber music plays a strong role in Konstantin’s musical career and collaborations include engagements with the Australian String Quartet, Richard Tognetti, Satu Vanska, Li-Wei Qin, Kristian Winther, Daniel Muller-Schott, Jeroens Berwaerts, Kristof Barati and Andreas Brantelid to name a few.
He is a firm favourite at the Ukaria Cultural Centre appearing frequently each season. Konstantin is also a regular guest artist at the Adelaide Festival, the International Piano Series and the Melbourne Recital Centre. He performs frequently for Piano+ and was appointed their Artistic Director of their OutWest Festival.
Konstantin is also Senior Lecturer in Piano at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne.
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Kristian Winther
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Kristian Winther is widely recognized for his ability to perform as a virtuosic violin soloist and as an energetic and brilliant chamber musician, seeking musical challenges performing classic, contemporary and rare works.
As violin soloist, Kristian has appeared with the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Christchurch and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Auckland Philharmonic, Gruppo Montebello and Orchestra Romantique. He has performed under the batons of conductors including Jessica Cottis, Olli Mustonen, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marcus Stenz, Oleg Caetani, David Robertson and Fabian Russell.
In the role of leader / director Kristian has performed as Guest Concertmaster of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne and Western Australian Symphony Orchestras, and as leader/director of ACO Collective.
A devoted chamber musician, Kristian was formerly violinist in the TinAlley String Quartet, winning first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, which was followed by tours of the USA, Canada and Europe. He has also performed chamber music with Anthony Romaniuk, Daniel de Borah, Anne Sophie von Otter, Angela Hewitt, Steven Osborne, Anna Goldsworthy, Richard Tognetti, Brett and Paul Dean, Konstantin Shamray, Hue Blanes and Joe Chindamo.
As an original musician of the Play On series since 2016, Kristian has performed music from the 16th to the 21st centuries at diverse venues including an underground car park in Collingwood and a nightclub in Berlin. Other recent solo / chamber music highlights include performing all of JS Bach’s unaccompanied sonatas and partitas at the Canberra Festival in a single day, the complete Schumann String Quartets in one concert on raw gut strings, and Reger’s monumental violin concerto at the Orlando Festival in the Netherlands.
Committed to performing new repertoire, Kristian has performed the world premiere of Olli Mustonen’s Sonata for Violin and Orchestra (with the composer conducting the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), as well as the Australian premieres of works by Louis Andriessen, Knussen, Kurtag, Salonen, Rihm, Widmann, Kelly-Marie Murphy, and numerous Australian composers. Kristian also gave the Australian premiere of John Adam’s concertante work for string quartet and orchestra Absolute Jest with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian and New Zealand premieres of Brett Dean’s violin concerto The Lost Art of Letter Writing.
Kristian performs on a violin crafted by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, Paris, 1859, on generous loan from UKARIA Cultural Centre.
As violin soloist, Kristian has appeared with the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Christchurch and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Auckland Philharmonic, Gruppo Montebello and Orchestra Romantique. He has performed under the batons of conductors including Jessica Cottis, Olli Mustonen, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marcus Stenz, Oleg Caetani, David Robertson and Fabian Russell.
In the role of leader / director Kristian has performed as Guest Concertmaster of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne and Western Australian Symphony Orchestras, and as leader/director of ACO Collective.
A devoted chamber musician, Kristian was formerly violinist in the TinAlley String Quartet, winning first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, which was followed by tours of the USA, Canada and Europe. He has also performed chamber music with Anthony Romaniuk, Daniel de Borah, Anne Sophie von Otter, Angela Hewitt, Steven Osborne, Anna Goldsworthy, Richard Tognetti, Brett and Paul Dean, Konstantin Shamray, Hue Blanes and Joe Chindamo.
As an original musician of the Play On series since 2016, Kristian has performed music from the 16th to the 21st centuries at diverse venues including an underground car park in Collingwood and a nightclub in Berlin. Other recent solo / chamber music highlights include performing all of JS Bach’s unaccompanied sonatas and partitas at the Canberra Festival in a single day, the complete Schumann String Quartets in one concert on raw gut strings, and Reger’s monumental violin concerto at the Orlando Festival in the Netherlands.
Committed to performing new repertoire, Kristian has performed the world premiere of Olli Mustonen’s Sonata for Violin and Orchestra (with the composer conducting the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), as well as the Australian premieres of works by Louis Andriessen, Knussen, Kurtag, Salonen, Rihm, Widmann, Kelly-Marie Murphy, and numerous Australian composers. Kristian also gave the Australian premiere of John Adam’s concertante work for string quartet and orchestra Absolute Jest with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian and New Zealand premieres of Brett Dean’s violin concerto The Lost Art of Letter Writing.
Kristian performs on a violin crafted by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, Paris, 1859, on generous loan from UKARIA Cultural Centre.
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Mattias Balzat
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Although New Zealand remains the place of birth and childhood to him, Matthias is a well traveled cellist, and a frequent conspirator of musical shenanigans since the spritely age of three. After over two decades of assimilating the four-stringed beast, his passion for the cello has only grown, and his odyssey to bring what approximates the sound of music to the stage, ever prolonged. His relationship to music was a natural affair, growing up in a household with six bundles of musical talent older than he, and with of course the two remarkable facilitators of it all. The nine of them together played and toured the globe, entertaining the worlds of Folk, Celtic and beyond, before separately pursuing varying paths of profession and livelihood.
Sally-Anne Brown was the first of the legends to ignite the wick and guide him through the madness of the classical music world. Next came James Tennant, the fierce and fluffy, who never settled for good, rather pushed the boundaries beyond their limits. It was with him that Matthias graduated at the University of Waikato with his Bachelor degree at the age of seventeen. World renowned Pieter Wispelwey, the untameable, is the current culprit for feeding the fire, as Matthias continues his studies at the Robert Schumann Hochschule für Musik in Düsseldorf.
Matthias can be found on stage throughout Europe, United Kingdom, China, New Zealand, Australia, and more, and is a seasoned performer as both a soloist and chamber musician, performing a large repertoire including several contemporary works commissioned for him. He is also the newly appointed cellist of the NZTrio, alongside superstars Amalia Hall and Somi Kim.
Matthias has been very blessed over the years with competition prizes, scholarships and supporting foundations to boost his ambitions. He received numerous first and second prizes in major competitions, both national and international, including the Schoenfeld International Cello Competition, Accordi Musicali International Competition, ROSL Annual Music Competition Strings Competition, in London; ROSL Chamber Music Scholarship Competition, in New Zealand; Winner of the New Zealand National Concerto Competition, twice; Winner of Sieghardt-Rometsch Instrumental Competition; Winner of NZ’s “Creative Performing Arts Person of the Year” award; Winner of the International Wallace Cello Competition; Winner of PACANZ and awarded NZ Arts Person of the Year; Winner of the National Te Awamutu Chamber Competition; Winner of the National Secondary Schools Chamber Competition; and second prize winner of the Gisborne International Music Competition.
He was the recipient of the Sir Edmund Hilary Gold Medal Award, Jack McGill Music Scholarship, Full Scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival, NZ Aimes Award, and more. A special mention to the Deane Endowment Trust for their continuous support to him throughout the last few years.
Furthermore he has taken part in masterclasses with Daniel Müller-Schott, Johannes Moser, Wen Sinn Yang, Wolfgang Schmidt, Richard Aaron, Li Wei Qin, Philippe Muller, David Dolan, Jo Cole, Louise Hopkins, Renna Kellaway, Robert Cohen, Gould Piano Trio, and more.
Soloist appearances with orchestras include the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Symphony Orchestra Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, St. Matthews Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Chamber Orchestra, NZ National Youth Orchestra, Wellington Youth Orchestra, Robert Schumann Hochschule Orchestra, Opus Orchestra, NZ Secondary Schools Orchestra, Waikato University Orchestra, Scotch College School Orchestra and more.
Matthias is regularly featured on national radio in New Zealand, Australia, Germany and Italy.
His weapon of choice is a Reiner Beilharz 2014 Cello, accompanied by a Klaus Grünke bow.
Sally-Anne Brown was the first of the legends to ignite the wick and guide him through the madness of the classical music world. Next came James Tennant, the fierce and fluffy, who never settled for good, rather pushed the boundaries beyond their limits. It was with him that Matthias graduated at the University of Waikato with his Bachelor degree at the age of seventeen. World renowned Pieter Wispelwey, the untameable, is the current culprit for feeding the fire, as Matthias continues his studies at the Robert Schumann Hochschule für Musik in Düsseldorf.
Matthias can be found on stage throughout Europe, United Kingdom, China, New Zealand, Australia, and more, and is a seasoned performer as both a soloist and chamber musician, performing a large repertoire including several contemporary works commissioned for him. He is also the newly appointed cellist of the NZTrio, alongside superstars Amalia Hall and Somi Kim.
Matthias has been very blessed over the years with competition prizes, scholarships and supporting foundations to boost his ambitions. He received numerous first and second prizes in major competitions, both national and international, including the Schoenfeld International Cello Competition, Accordi Musicali International Competition, ROSL Annual Music Competition Strings Competition, in London; ROSL Chamber Music Scholarship Competition, in New Zealand; Winner of the New Zealand National Concerto Competition, twice; Winner of Sieghardt-Rometsch Instrumental Competition; Winner of NZ’s “Creative Performing Arts Person of the Year” award; Winner of the International Wallace Cello Competition; Winner of PACANZ and awarded NZ Arts Person of the Year; Winner of the National Te Awamutu Chamber Competition; Winner of the National Secondary Schools Chamber Competition; and second prize winner of the Gisborne International Music Competition.
He was the recipient of the Sir Edmund Hilary Gold Medal Award, Jack McGill Music Scholarship, Full Scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival, NZ Aimes Award, and more. A special mention to the Deane Endowment Trust for their continuous support to him throughout the last few years.
Furthermore he has taken part in masterclasses with Daniel Müller-Schott, Johannes Moser, Wen Sinn Yang, Wolfgang Schmidt, Richard Aaron, Li Wei Qin, Philippe Muller, David Dolan, Jo Cole, Louise Hopkins, Renna Kellaway, Robert Cohen, Gould Piano Trio, and more.
Soloist appearances with orchestras include the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Symphony Orchestra Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, St. Matthews Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Chamber Orchestra, NZ National Youth Orchestra, Wellington Youth Orchestra, Robert Schumann Hochschule Orchestra, Opus Orchestra, NZ Secondary Schools Orchestra, Waikato University Orchestra, Scotch College School Orchestra and more.
Matthias is regularly featured on national radio in New Zealand, Australia, Germany and Italy.
His weapon of choice is a Reiner Beilharz 2014 Cello, accompanied by a Klaus Grünke bow.