Kerikeri International Piano Competition 2016
Thursday June 30th – Sunday July 3rd 2016
Turner Centre at Kerikeri, New Zealand
First held in 1987, the biennial Piano Competition attracts contestants, teachers, and audience members from around the country and abroad. Many previous winners and participants have gone on to build successful international performance careers. Alumni of the competition
include such well-known names as John Chen, Stephen de Pledge, Dan Poynton, Emma Sayers and Henry Wong Doe and in 2006, 15 year-old Denny Liu swept away the competition to seize first place as the youngest winner ever. The 2008 winner was the highly talented young musician, Jun Bouterey-Ishido from Christchurch whose playing thrilled the large audiences. In 2010 John-Paul Muir, from Auckland swept aside the strong international field with a stunning performance in the Final round to secure the First Prize. The KIPC Trust is a charitable trust funded by corporate and private sponsors and other charitable trusts and priavte donors with NZ’s most acclaimed concert pianist, Michael Houstoun, as its patron. His commitment to the Competition reflects his belief that “It is by far the best test for young pianists in the solo repertoire in this country.”
The Trust’s primary purpose is to conduct New Zealand’s most recognised classical music piano competition for young talented pianists. It is held every second year over 4 days in July at The Centre, Kerikeri, with its wonderful concert grand Steinway piano. The 2010 Competition ran from 1-4 July with an increased total prize purse of NZ$25,000. Hailed as the first truly international event, the 18 contestants came from Australia, Bulgaria/Russia, China, Israel and New Zealand. To add to the international flavour, the adjudicator was Albert Tiu from the Philippines and currently teaching at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore. As the profile of the competition now reaches beyond New Zealand in 2011 it and the Trust were renamed Kerikeri International Piano Competition.
