Twenty fingers tickle the ivories at opera house

Jun Bouterey-Ishido and Tony Chen Lin have combined their talents for the Twenty Fingers tour.

Tony Chen Lin and Jun Bouterey-Ishido are two remarkable young pianists, originally from Christchurch, and now living and working in Europe.

They will perform their Twenty Fingers - Symphonic Piano programme at the Royal Wanganui Opera House on Friday, November 10.

Both artists performed for Chamber Music Wanganui in their 2016 season to standing ovations and the society is delighted to welcome them back with this bonus concert of music by Bach, Schubert, Stravinsky, Kurtag and Ravel.

Since completing his Bachelor of Music (Hons) at Canterbury University in 2008, Bouterey-Ishido's studies have taken him to the Liszt Academy in Budapest and to Stuttgart, where he completed a Master in Piano in 2011 and graduated with distinction from the Konzertexamen (Concert Artist) programme in February 2014, studying under Péter Nagy and Kirill Gerstein.

Since then he has continued to receive substantial mentoring from Rita Wagner in Budapest, as well as from Edith Fischer.

Born in China, New Zealand pianist and composer Tony Chen Lin has appeared in concerts worldwide. He has performed regularly as young artist and, more recently as a conductor and teacher, at the Semaine Internationale Piano & Musique de Chambre festival in Switzerland.

In 2015 Lin was soloist with the Stuttgart State Orchestra as part of the Rising Stars Festival.

Recent highlights include performances of Bartók's First Piano Concerto, a 10-centre solo New Zealand tour with Chamber Music New Zealand in 2016, and performing with the renowned Quatuor Sine Nomine.

Lin moved to Europe and in 2013 completed his Master of Music under Gilead Mishory at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg in Germany.

As part of his graduation concerts, he formed his own chamber orchestra to perform and conducted a Mozart Piano Concerto from the piano.

The two young musicians are great friends and their enjoyment of playing together makes their performances extra special.

At the opera house, the duo will treat the audience to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Ravel's La Valse as well as performing some Bach transcriptions and a Schubert Sonata.

Twenty Fingers - Symphonic Piano. Friday, 10 November 7.30pm, Royal Wanganui Opera House. Adults $35, Seniors $32, Chamber Music Wanganui subscribers $20, Students $5.