2020 New Zealand International Young Artists Festival

No longer attending

Ben Kennedy is a Year 13 student at Paraparaumu College. He has been learning music since the age of 6 when he began taking violin lessons with Ann White. He began piano lessons under Maria Vink the following year, and more recently with Jennifer Scarlet and Dr Jian Liu. He currently... Read More →

13-year-old Cordelia Waldron was born in Lower Hutt, Wellington. She was introduced to violin at the age of six. She progressed swiftly under the guidance of Anthea Secker and has enjoyed success at examinations and local music competitions. She was the recipient of 2015 Most Outstanding... Read More →

Elise Tian is a 10 years old music scholar this year going to Rangi Ruru Girls' School. She has passed her Grade 8 cello exam with distinction and her Grade 6 piano exam with distinction. Elise started cello with Galyna Zelinska since at age of five. Elise also started piano at age... Read More →

Elsa Zhao is 16 years old, her birthday is on July 20th, and she is a year 12 who attends Wellington Girls’ College. Her hobbies including arts, especially digital illustration. One of Elsa’s favourite inspirations for digital illustration is Weta Workshops and Amalgamated Dynamics... Read More →

Geoff Hill is a 13 year old pianist and attends ACG Parnell College where he is heavily involved in the music department as part of their chamber music programme as well as playing keyboards in the Senior Jazz Ensemble and Big Band. Geoff started his piano studies with Tatiana Lanchtchikova... Read More →

Isabel Lu is a Year 10 student at Palmerston North Girls’ High School (PNGHS). She has been learning violin for over 5 years now and passed her Grade 8 Trinity exam in 2019. Yury Gezentsvey is Isabel's current violin teacher.Isabel has attended many regional competitions, including... Read More →

Justin is 16 years old and a recipient of the prestigious Christ’s College of Canterbury music scholarship.He has been awarded several music scholarships & awards, including the Award of Excellence by the Royal Overseas League in the Specialist Music programme at Westburn School... Read More →

I am 15 years old. I learn violin from Marise Mcniel, and have been with her for 5 years now. I have played violin for 11 years. I started violin at 4 years old in America, doing Suzuki. I spent one year in Germany with a different teacher, then came to New Zealand. This year, I have... Read More →

Otis is currently a year 12 student at St Patrick’s College and also studies at Victoria University as a student of classical performance piano under Jian Liu and Emma Sayers. He has had success in many competitions including 1st prize at the 2019 IRMT recital competition and 1st... Read More →

Peter Gjelsten started learning violin when he was 6 years old with Konstanze Artmann. Then at age 9 he switched to his current teacher, Lynley Culliford. Peter has been playing in orchestras ever since he was 10 years old. He plays as Assistant Concertmaster in the Wellington Youth... Read More →

Polly Lee is 12 and also a music scholar at Rangi Ruru Girls’ School. She plays piano and violin and has passed Grade 8 on both instruments with distinction. Starting piano at the age of five as a student of Neville Baird, she is now a pupil of Melanie Lina and Michael Endres. Polly... Read More →

Samuel Woosol Jeon was born in Christchurch on the 29th of June 2003 and currently attends St Andrew’s College. He began piano from age 5 and violin from age 6. He currently learns piano from Mijin Jeon and violin from Mark Menzies. In 2015, he passed his DipABRSM performance piano... Read More →

Scott Du is 13 years old and comes from Palmerston North. He has been playing piano for 8 years, learning from Soundworks music school for 7 of these years and this year transferring to Nick Hunter. He enjoys playing the piano since he is being challenged heaps. Scott is preparing... Read More →

Shanita Sungsuwan is a 14 year old attending Chilton St James School. She started violin at the age of 8 with Arohanuistrings where she was concertmaster for five years, then at 9 years old she started her private lessons with Alison Eldredge. As of now, she is learning with Lynley... Read More →

Shuan Liu is a year 12 student at Pinehurst School and started learning the piano at the age of six. Shuan has been nominated for a full Chiron Charitable Trust Scholarship for 2020. She is currently studying piano with Dr. Jian Liu, Bryan Sayer, and Rae de Lisle. Shuan has won numerous... Read More →

Toloa is a 17-year-old violinist who was first introduced to the violin through the Virtuoso Strings violin classes as a 12-year-old student at Rangikura School in 2015. He began receiving individual lessons with Elizabeth Sneyd mid-2016, and with sponsorship support from Carolyn... Read More →

Valerie was born in Singapore but grew up in Australia before moving to Wellington last year. She started playing the violin at the age of 5 and favours composers such as Tchaikovsky, Bach and Paganini. She loves the sound of the violin and appreciates the complexity of the techniques... Read More →

William started teaching himself to play piano before starting school and since then has continued to forge his own musical path. He has been guided by teachers who have allowed him to express his individuality and is currently taught by Gillian Bibby who has extended his playing... Read More →

Yuzhang Wu, is a Year 8 student at Pinehurst School. She started learning piano at the age of 5. She is currently studying piano with Dr. Jian Liu and Bryan Sayer. Yuzhang has received the 1st prizes at many different piano competitions in NZ, including Overall Excellence Award of... Read More →

Donald Armstrong is Associate Concertmaster of the NZSO. He was formerly Principal Second Violin of the Tivoli Sinfoniorkester in Denmark and Co-Concertmaster of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice in France. He performs regularly in New Zealand with his own chamber group, the “Amici... Read More →

At the age of fourteen Claire Chiu arrived in Beijing from her native place Hong Kong to study piano at famed Central Conservatory’s Attached Middle School. This was the beginning of an adventure that has now taken her to three continents and led to her appointment as Associate... Read More →

German Pianist Michael Endres performs worldwide as soloist and chamber music partner. He gained a Master’s degree at the Juilliard School in New York under Jacob Lateiner and studied with Peter Feuchtwanger in London. He has won prizes such as the Concours Geza Anda (Zurich) and... Read More →

Monique Lapins began her violin studies at the age of 6 with the Suzuki method and continued her studies at the Australian National Academy of Music under William Hennessy, and at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music under Professor Qian Zhou.As a chamber musician, she has twice... Read More →

Internationally celebrated concert pianist, chamber musician, and educator, Dr. Jian Liu, has performed and taught throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. His artistry has been taking him to some of the most prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and... Read More →

Born in London, Tasman Richards moved to New Zealand in 2001. He began learning piano at age 8 and, alongside preparation for his ABRSM grades, he also studied jazz and improvisation technique from Marlborough-based jazz pianist Tony Thiel. In 2014 and 2015, Tas was twice awarded... Read More →

A native of New Zealand, Martin Riseley began violin studies at the age of six, and gave his first solo concert when he was ten. After several years of study with the English violinist Carl Pini, he entered the University of Canterbury School of Music as a pupil of Polish violinist... Read More →

Hamish is Lecturer in Music Studies at the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington. His research, teaching, and public engagement activities are informed by his triple expertise as performer, musicologist, and music theorist. Hamish completed his PhD and MA... Read More →

Thomas Voyce teaches recording and mixing techniques for 2-channel works and surround sound composition, along with audio post production for film. As a composer, Thomas works with environmental sound and live electronics, often with extended spatial capture and diffusion, including... Read More →

Bo Yang is currently a PhD candidate at the New Zealand School of Music, with a focus in musicology and music technology, where he intends to explore the instruments of taonga puoro, Māori instruments. And now he is also the chairman of the Chinese Students & Scholars Association... Read More →

Kevin Zhang, born in 2012, started to learn piano at age 3 with her mother, who is the Professor of Piano at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou China. At age 4, Kevin became to learn violin and is now studying with Prof.Guan Wenhui from the Xinghai Conservatory of Music... Read More →

Xi Wang (Silvia) is currently studying with Claire Chiu at Xin Hai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou city, China. In recent years, she won the second prize in 6th Internationaler Deutscher Irmler-Klavierwettbewerb and won the third prize in Asia-Pacific Instrumental Music Open Championship... Read More →

Yongjun Li started to learn piano at age 4 with Prof. Claire Chiu from the Xinghai Conservatory of Music. Because of his love and latent in music, he has already participated in many performances and competitions, and has achieved good results, e.g. First Prize of Piano Solo P117-Self-selected... Read More →

Zhengzhang Chen is fascinated by classic music from a young age. From the age of 6, he began to study piano with Professor Claire Chin from the piano department of the Xinghai Conservatory of Music. Under Prof.Chiu’s inspiration, Zhengzhang Chen becomes very interested in piano... Read More →