Christopher’s Classics Series XXIV programme presents “Wilma and Friends”

Sunday Classics Inc

Christopher’s Classics Series XXIV programme – 2019

Wilma & Friends 

Wilma Smith, Ian Munro, Anna Pakorny 

The Piano, 156 Armagh St, Christchurch 

Thursday 7 March 7.30pm

Beethoven – Variations on Ich bin der Schneider Kaduku Op.121a; Munro – Piano Trio Tales from Old Russia; Brahms – Piano Trio No.3 in C Minor Op.101; Francaix – Piano Trio

Celebrated violinist Wilma Smith returns to Christchurch with Australian performers, cellist Anna Pakorny and Ian Munro on piano.  Their repertoire includes Ian’s own internationally acclaimed composition, commissioned by Sunday Classics Inc.

Door sales: Cash & Eftpos $45; full-time students with ID, $20

Online tickets Eventfinda  – additional fees apply

www.facebook.com/christophersclassics  www.christophersclassics.nz/

Media contact Diana Moir, 021 126 5738  dhmoir2212@gmail.com Note amended email address

Biographies

Wilma Smith

Wilma Smith is Artistic Director and violinist of Wilma & Friends, a chamber music group based in Melbourne presenting concerts throughout Australia and New Zealand. She is also Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and teaches violin and chamber music at the University of Melbourne, Monash University, Scotch College and Korowa Anglican Girls’ School.

Wilma was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. She studied in Boston at the New England Conservatory and was founding First Violinist of the Lydian String Quartet, winners of the Naumburg Award for Chamber Music and multiple prizes at the Evian, Banff and Portsmouth International String Quartet competitions. She was Concertmaster of the Harvard Chamber Orchestra and Handel and Haydn Society and performed regularly with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops Orchestra.

Invited to return home to form the New Zealand String Quartet, Wilma was First Violinist until she was appointed Concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, a position she held for nine years before moving to be Concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2014. Wilma also appears as Guest Concertmaster with Sydney, Adelaide, West Australian, and Tasmanian Symphony orchestras, along with Orchestra Victoria and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

Ian Munro

Ian Munro is one of Australia’s most distinguished and awarded musicians, with a career that has taken him to 30 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia. His Premier Grand Prix at the Queen Elisabeth International Competition for composers (2003) follows on from multiple prizes in international piano competitions in Spain, Italy, Portugal and the UK, where his Second Prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1987 established his international profile.

After completing his early training in Melbourne, Ian furthered his studies in Vienna, London and Italy. In the UK he performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, BBC Concert Orchestra, and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, broadcasting widely for the BBC. Elsewhere, he performed with orchestras in Poland, Italy, Portugal, Russia, the USA, China, New Zealand and Australia.  A widely experienced chamber musician, Ian joined the acclaimed Australia Ensemble in Sydney in 2000.

With an extensive piano discography on ABC Classics, Hyperion, Cala, Naxos, Marco Polo, Tall Poppies and Warehouse labels, Ian is now equally in demand as a composer. He was Featured Composer for Musica Viva in 2011 and his Flute Concerto and Song Cycle Three Birds received their premieres in 2016 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Australia Ensemble respectively, among many other of his chamber works for various ensembles.

Anna Pakorny

Anna graduated as a cello student from the Australian National Academy of Music in 2012. She holds a Bachelor of Music from The University of Western Australia and in 2013-14 undertook further postgraduate performance study at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland. Throughout her study Anna performed in master classes including the Borodin String Quartet, Doric String Quartet, Brodsky String Quartet and Eggner Trio. In 2012 she was an Australian Chamber Orchestra Emerging Artist.

Since 2012 Anna has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, ACO Collective and West Australian Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician she has appeared in concert series and festivals across Australia including the Perth International Arts Festival, Metropolis Music Festival and Bangalow Music Festival.

She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Pauline Steele Prize for Bach, ANAM Prize for Most Outstanding Performance in a Recital, Woodside Concerto and ANAM Chamber Music Competition Winner, Ian Potter Cultural Trust Scholarship, and the Ernest V. Llewellyn Memorial Fund Travel and Study Scholarship.