Friends of the APO Inc - Meet The Artist

Our morning will start with a programme of music from a Brazilian pianist, Camila Oliveira. Camila began her musical studies at the age 6. She completed her bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Faculdade de Artes Alcântara Machado, Brazil. In 2019 Camila received her postgraduate diploma in Music with specialisation in piano performance at the University of Auckland under Dr Rae de Lisle and she has been studying to complete a master degree in Piano Performance at the University of Auckland in 2021. She won many prizes in piano competitions, such as 20th Art Livre Piano Competition, 8th Piano Competition Maestro Rodrigo Tavares, 24th " Paulo Giovanini "Piano Competition, 7th National Piano Competition Maestro Spartaco Rossi, 1st Piracicaba International Piano Concert Competition, and in 2019 she not only won the Llewelyn Jones Prize in Music for Piano at the University of Auckland but she was also recipient of the Ada Kathleen and Barbara Ellen Watson Scholarship. She has played with many orchestras, such as Symphonic Orchestra of the Municipal Theater of São Paulo, São Paulo State Symphony Band, Bachiana SESI-SP Foundation Orchestra, São Pedro Theatro Orchestra, and Santo André Symphony Orchestra. Furthermore, she has maintained an intense career as a collaborative pianist and piano teacher.
The music programme will be followed by and interview with NZ-based German pianist Michael Endres who is the soloist in Schumann’s piano concerto in the APO's Poetry and Passion concert on 12 November. Michael Endres has been described by Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe as, "…one of the most interesting pianists recording today " and by British Gramophone Magazine “...he is an outstanding Schubert Interpreter ". Among his many recordings ( thirty-three in total ) he has won the prestigious French award, Diapason D’or, three times and was also awarded the 'Choc du Musique' twice, with The New York Times reviewing "performances with pianist Michael Endres were revelatory". Michael gained a Master’s degree at the Juilliard School in New York under Jacob Lateiner, Chamber music under Felix Galimir and studied with Peter Feuchtwanger in London. He has won many prizes such as the Concours Geza Anda (Zurich) and first prize at the International Schubert Competition. His solo recordings include sets of the complete sonatas by Mozart, Schubert, Weber and in particular the rarely heard English composer Arnold Bax. As well as all works of Ravel and Gershwin he has recorded the Songs Without Words by Mendelssohn, Barcarolles by Faure, as well as a 3 CD set of works by Robert Schumann. He has a wide repertoire and a keen interest in performing lesser played composers like Leopold Godowsky, Charles Ives, Eduard Tubin and is one of only 3 pianists who has ever recorded the whole 400 Dances of Franz Schubert (with whom he has a special affinity).

Michael plays at many festivals in Europe, America and Asia including Newport (USA), Beethoven Fest Bonn, Salzburg Festival, Shanghai Festival, and has performed at Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonie, Zurich Tonhalle, Musikverein Vienna, Suntory Hall Tokyo, La Scala Milan, to name a few. He accompanied the legendary German Baritone Hermann Prey for many years and performed with the Berlin Philharmonic soloists, String Quartets such as the Artemis, Fine Arts Quartet, the Enso Quartet on their New Zealand tour with Chamber Music NZ and the NZ String Quartet. He has a distinguished teaching career as Professor of Piano in various leading European schools such as the "Hochschule fuer Musik” Cologne, the "Hanns Eisler" Hochschule in Berlin and the “Barrat Due” Institute in Oslo, Norway. Michael currently lives in Canterbury with his New Zealand wife Susan, a violinist and ceramicist.

The morning will conclude with a Christmas themed light lunch as this is our last MTA of 2020.