New Zealand Chamber Soloists
with special guest Dimitri Atanassovv

PROGRAMME

Beethoven Piano Trio in D major, Op.70 no.1 “Ghost”
Brahms Piano Quartet in C minor, Op.60

Before the formation of the New Zealand Chamber Soloists, Katherine and James were in the Ogen Trio for 10 years with violinist Dimitri Atanassov. Dimitri is reuniting with them for several concerts and together they will perform the Brahms C minor Piano Quartet with Lara on viola. Katherine recently said “We had a great time rehearsing with Dimitri this morning! Such a masterwork the Brahms C minor Piano Quartet – it’s great – tragic and beautiful! Wonderful to be able to play together again.”

Born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1970, Dimitri Atanassov started learning the violin at the age of 6. After studying with Professor Anna Ivanova, Dimitri excelled in his studies at the Prague Academy of Arts under the guidance of Professor Vaclav Snitil, completing his Master’s degree in 1994. As a Concertmaster of the Auckland Philharmonia orchestra and a chamber musician he has worked and performed with some leading international artists and conductors such as Shlomo Mintz, Nigel Kennedy, Per Arne Glorvigen, Kiri Te Kanawa, Dmitri Kitajenko, John Nelson, Luciano Pavarotti, Josef Suk, Roy Goodman, Alina Ibragimova, Tasmine Little, Oleg Caetani, Feng Ning, James Ehnes and many others.

Inspired by violin maker Ian Sweetman and the works of the old Cremonese masters Guarneri and Stradivari, Dimitri took up violin making in 2002. He also learned violin making and restoration in the USA, France and Italy. He has also attended violin restoration classes with Jean-Jacques Fasnacht and Iris Carr and bow restoration classes with Lynn Armour.

In 2013 he opened his workshop in Cremona, Italy. It is situated on Corso Garibaldi 133, about 200m away from Casa nuziale di Stradivari.

His instruments have become popular for their superb quality of sound and playability. Currently Dimitri’s violins are played in Europe, USA, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

In 2010 he exhibited at the “Ole Bull” – Exhibition in Oslo Norway- organized by Christophe Landon, and exhibits regularly at the Shanghai Music Expo and Cremona Mondomusica. In 2011 his instruments were placed 5th and 6th at the International Violin Making Competition in Pisogne, Italy.

The New Zealand Chamber Soloists have been performing regularly throughout New Zealand and overseas since 2006. The core group is the piano trio combining the talents of Katherine Austin (piano), Lara Hall (violin), and James Tennant (cello). They have welcomed many other renowned New Zealand musicians and composers under the New Zealand Chamber Soloists’ banner.

The group is dedicated to presenting classical music as a spontaneous and vivid experience, in which the audience and performers are connected through the universal language of music. Since its inception, the New Zealand Chamber Soloists have celebrated the unique voice of New Zealand’s new generation of composers, alongside the works of the classical and 20th century traditions. The group has brought a unique blend of virtuosity, colour and a full-on, spontaneous energy to music old and new.

As lecturers at the University of Waikato Conservatorium of Music, the New Zealand Chamber Soloists are also committed to developing the next generation of musicians through a performance-rich curriculum which includes over 70 student-based concerts per year, a world-leading ‘soloists specialisation’ course and the regular commissioning of new New Zealand works.

Since 2006, the New Zealand Chamber Soloists have undertaken a diverse spectrum of work across the fields of performance and recording, undertaking national tours under the auspices of Chamber Music New Zealand, several tours in Europe and the USA, as well as performing in China, Singapore, South America and Australia.

In 2012 the ensemble gave the world premiere of two works written for them by John Psathas, Corybas and Aegean, and the European premieres of a number of compositions written for them by NZ composers Gareth Farr, Martin Lodge, Mike Williams and David Griffiths, in the Casa dei Mezzo summer music festival in Crete. In the same tour they performed in Italy’s Festival Pontino, Rome’sTeatro de Marcello and at four concerts in Greece’s Festival of the Aegean.

The New Zealand Chamber Soloists have released two CDs of New Zealand works, Ahi (2008), and Corybas (2014), and a CD of trios by Rachmaninoff, Babajanian and Shostakovich entitled Elegy (2010), to international critical acclaim.

Corybas features the complete piano and strings chamber works of internationally renown NZ-Greek composer John Psathas, including his piano quintet, recorded with Amalia Hall (violin) and Robert Ashworth (viola). Three of the five works on the CD were written for members of the New Zealand Chamber Soloists.

Adults $25
Members $20
Students Free
Door Sales Only