One of New Zealand’s most exciting young pianists is playing a rare concert near Arrowtown tomorrow.
Proceeds from the benefit concert for Dunedin’s Abhinath Berry, who’s also a composer, will go towards his planned overseas post-grad studies, having recently graduated with a bachelor of music from the University of Otago’s School of Performing Arts, with first-class honours, in performance and composition.
The recent winner of Creative New Zealand’s Jack McGill Scholarship’s been studying under Blair Professor Terence Dennis — who earlier this month accompanied Dunedin soprano Olivia Pike at Arrowtown’s Athenaeum Hall in another benefit concert — since 2019.
Born in NZ into a literary family, Berry started tinkling the ivories when he was 15, and continued to teach himself, often also writing his own music, until he was 18, when he started with Dennis. While studying at Otago Boys’ High he joined the choir, where he discovered he also had perfect pitch.
He was encouraged by the school’s music teacher to investigate opportunities for more formal piano lessons and, after winning an academic excellence scholarship to study at Otago Uni, he initially enrolled in a science degree, majoring in physics and botany, with a minor in music.
That changed after he won the senior recital class and the Moller Trophy at the Dunedin Instrumental Competition after just six months of lessons, and he decided to instead pursue music.
Last year he won all possible prizes from the School of Performing Arts, and, since 2019, has won all relevant prizes offered by the school in performance, composition and academic music.
Other accolades include a ‘FAME Emerging Practitioner Award’, in 2021, a national scholarship for young artists, the 2022 Lilburn Prize for his Sonata-Fantasie for solo piano, and his work Prologue from Metamorphoses was selected for the Todd Corporation Young Composers’ Award, and performed and recorded by the NZ Symphony Orchestra.
He’s recently presented a second, highly-successful national recital tour featuring woks of Liszt and Wagner-Liszt, and will be presenting a recital in September in the Chiron Lewis Eady Foundation’s Emerging Artist series in Auckland.
At present, he’s exploring options for post-grad studies overseas — last year he was offered a place and scholarship on the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s Artist Master’s Piano Performance programme in London.
Piano Masterworks with Abhinath Berry, supported by Arrowtown Lifestyle Village and Wānaka Concert Society, Thomas Brown Gallery, tomorrow, 2.30pm. Tickets $45 via Eventfinda, or Lakes District Museum — refreshments included
